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BL  256  .A3  1888 
Ackerman,  George  E. 

Man 


MAN 


A  REVELATION  OF  GOD, 


BY 

V 

Rev.  G.  E.  ACKERMAN,  A.M.,  M.D.,  D.D., 

Author  of  "  Researches  in  Philosophy  ;  "  Member  of  The  American  Institute  of 

Christian  Philosophy  ;  Associate  in  The  Philosophical  Society 

of  Great  Britain,  etc.,  etc. 


NEW  YORK:  PHILLIPS  <5r»  HUNT. 

CI  NCI NN A  TI:  CRANSTON  b>  STOWE. 

x888. 


Copyright,  1888,  by 

PHILLIPS    &    HUNT, 

New  York. 


TO  HER 

WHO   HAS    BEEN 

MY  GREATEST  EARTHLY  JOY 

DURING    THE    NINE   YEARS    OF    PREPARATION     FOR   THIS   VOLUME, 
THE   WORK   IS 

MOST    AFFECTIONATELY   DEDICATED 

BY 

THE  AUTHOR. 


PREFACE 


THE  following  pages  were  written  with  the  earn- 
est desire  to  help  the  honest  doubter  over  his 
difficulties.  The  writer  is  of  a  skeptical  bent  of  mind, 
and  was  troubled  with  mental  unrest  even  after  his 
conversion  ;  and  when,  in  his  younger  student  days, 
study  brought  him  for  the  first  time  into  contact 
with  various  systems  of  mental  philosophy  and  vari- 
ous phases  of  ethics,  he  drifted  for  a  time  like  a  ship 
without  rudder  or  compass  on  the  dark  and  horrid  sea 
of  Doubt. 

But  after  the  agony  of  the  drifting,  and  the  horror 
of  darkness  worse  than  Egyptian,  came  the  grappling 
of  anchor  "sure  and  steadfast,"  the  solidification  of 
faith,  and  the  peace  that  accompanies  conscious  assur- 
ance. Because  of  this  long  mental  fluctuation  he  has 
always  had  sympathy  for  men  of  skeptical  mind,  and 
this  volume  is  sent  forth  in  hope  that  by  its  perusal 
many  young  people  especially — and  perhaps  many 
older  men  and  women,  who  are  not  familiar  with  the 
language  of  the  schools — may  be  helped  off,  or  kept 
off,  the  shoals  of  unbelief. 

With   this  end  in  view  the  use  of  technical  terms 


6  Preface. 

has  been,  so  far  as  possible,  avoided.  Writers,  like 
preachers,  too  often  forget  the  multitude  for  whose 
benefit  they  should  write,  and  direct  their  thought 
exclusively  toward  the  learned  minority  whose  ap- 
plause they  covet.  The  present  writer  does  not  pro- 
fess insensibility  to  commendation  from  profound 
thinkers,  but  has  constantly  held  uppermost  in  his 
thought  the  average  thinker,  and  has  honestly  endeav- 
ored to  write  for  him. 

During  nine  busy  years  all  the  time  which  could 
be  spared  from  daily  toil,  as  pastor  and  teacher,  has 
been  given  to  preparation  for  what  is  now  somewhat 
reluctantly  sent  forth  into  the  great  world  of  books. 
It  appears  to  the  author  to  be  a  very  small  result  of 
so  many  years  of  labor,  and  may  appear  more  insig- 
nificant to  the  critic.  But  the  writer  has  never  yet 
apologized  for  undertaking  a  plain  duty,  and  what  he 
has  written  he  has  written  because  he  could  not  avoid 
writing  it. 

He  has  sought  impartially  to  give  authorities  on 
both  sides  of  every  question  ;  and,  at  the  risk  of  seem- 
ing to  quote  too  largely  from  others,  has  endeavored  to 
give  enough  of  the  exact  words  of  each  author  cited 
to  do  him,  as  well  as  the  subject,  justice.  Names 
and  titles  have  been  given  in  full,  either  in  the  text 
or  in  foot-note. 

I  acknowledge  with  gratitude  the  uniform  cour- 
tesy of  the  librarians  of  the  North-western  Uni- 
versity, the   Presbyterian  College  of   Montreal,  the 


Preface.  ♦ 

McGill  University,  and  the  Buffalo  Library  ;  and  also 
of  the  owners  of  several  valuable  private  libraries, 
who  have  spared  no  pains  to  lighten  my  task.  With 
a  sense  of  inexpressible  gratitude  to  God,  a  full  and 
satisfying  revelation  of  whom,  during  all  these  years, 
the  author  of  Man  a  Revelation  of  God  has  con- 
stantly found,  he  closes  this  Preface—"  done  before," 
yet  always  written  last— and  commends  his  book  to 
the  Master  in  whose  service  it  is  sent  forth. 

George  Everett  Ackerman. 

The  Manse,  448  Elk  Street,  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
January,  1888. 


41  The  pulse  of  religion  is  thus  quickened  by  every  law  or  new  illus- 
tration of  law,  by  every  fact  and  legitimate  use  which  is  made  of  the 
fact,  iu  science.  While  science  discovers,  and  classifies,  and  names, 
religion  looks  on  without  fear ;  for  reason,  which  gives  to  science  its 
meaning,  gives  to  religion  a  shield."— Rev.  R.  Mitchell,  in  Transactions 
of  the  Victoria  Institute. 

"  For  the  Lord  giveth  wisdom :  out  of  his  mouth  cometh  knowl- 
edge and  understanding." — Solomon. 

"What  is  mystery  to  so  many  men,  what  feeds  their  worship  and 
at  the  same  time  spoils  it,  is  that  area  round  all  great  truth  which  is 
really  capable  of  illustration,  and  into  which  every  earnest  mind  is 
permitted  and  commanded  to  go  with  a  light." — Drummond. 


INTRODUCTION 


TTTF.  symbol  of  thejfinj- trentll  century  is  the  inter^     I 
rogation  point.     We  live  in  an  age  of  inquiry.  ^ 
The  desire  to  lo^k  into  the  unknown  is  as  umver-  ^ 
sal   as  the  race.      The  savage,   who   gazes    on    the    rf 
expanse  of  waters  encircling  his  island  home,  won- 
dering what  lies  beyond,  and  sinks  in  the  terror  of 
superstition  before  the   phenomena   of  nature;    the 
astronomer,  who  with  unflagging  zeal  watches  out  the 
night  to  detect  some  celestial  wanderer;  the  chemist, 
bending  intently  over  his  crucible,  or  watching  for 
some  delicate  reaction ;  the  geologist,  patiently  striv- 
ing to  decipher  the   records    of  the   rocks-all  are 
moved  by  a  common  impulse :  a  desire  to  lift  the  veil 
which   hides   from  view  the  unknown.      It  is  this 
which  has  given  lis  all  the  modern  appliances  in  art. 
and    has    placed   physical   science  so  proudly  before 
the  world.     It  is  this  which  to-day  impels  us  to  do 
higher  honor  to  the  patient  investigator  of  scientific 
phenomena  than  to  the  greatest  warrior  or  statesman, 
and  causes  a  nation's  most  lasting  fame  to  come,  not 
from  political  achievements,  bjotjffiin_thjej^session 
of  some  maiJyr-niiiid  in  science. 

AUtruejsifiBSeJSJBie.    The  thought  of  the  present 


10  Introduction. 

is  largely  occupied  with  physical  science,  but  fields  of 
equal  fruitful ness  are  found  within.  On  the  human 
mind  from  the  earliest  ages  has  been  enstamped  the 
image  of  the  Divine;  in  it  have  been  placed  the 
germs  of  truth ;  and  a  large  share  of  the  world's 
thought  has  been  given  to  the  study  of  individual 
man  and  his  relations  to  the  Infinite.  In  this  study 
progress  has  been  tardy.  Mighty  and  permanent 
changes  are  always  slowly  made.  Historians  count 
not  the  men  who  fail  in  great  enterprises ;  they  tell 
not  of  buried  hopes.  Only  those  who  stand  at  the 
crises  of  events  have  their  names  sent  down  to  pos- 
terity. Revolutions  which  seem  at  first  thought  to 
have  been  the  result  of  a  single  man's  planning  and 
a  single  nation's  executing,  examined  more  closely, 
are  found  to  have  been  the  growth  of  centuries  and 
the  property  of  all  nations.  Men  find  a  peculiar 
pleasure  in  the  historic  study  of  struggles  for  civic 
freedom,  and  rightly  so ;  for  they  were  all  of  value  and 
possess  true  dignity.  But  far  above  all  others  would 
1  place  the  struggles  of  thought  to  hurst  its  fetters ; 
and  I  ask  the  reader's  attention  for  a  few  moments  in 
these  introductory  pages  to  a  brief  glance  at  some  of 
these  struggles. 

The  historian  tells  us  that  there  are  only  two  great 
eras  in  the  history  of  mental  science.  This  is  true, 
and  these  eras  were  separated  by  twenty  centuries; 
nevertheless,  no  one  of  these  intervening  centuries 
was  without  its  searchers  after  truth,  its  representa- 


Introduction.  11 

tive  minds,  peering  through  the  darkness.  There 
may  have  been  but  little  accomplished  in  all  that 
time  of  a  purely  philosophical  character,  but  much 
was  done  toward  the  emancipation  of  mind,  toward 
preparing  the  world  for  the  advent  of  those  master- 
souls  of  the  seventeenth  century,  Bacon  and  Descartes, 
who  gave  a  new  impulse  to  philosophical  study,  strik- 
ing boldly  out  into  paths  hitherto  untrodden,  and  in- 
viting all  men  to  examine  for  themselves. 

The  former  did  little  with  pure  philosophy,  as  such, 
but  who  can  measure  the  influence  he  exerted  upon  its 
methods?  It  is  because  Bacon  lived  and  questioned 
the  old  methods,  because  he  denied  the  absolute  power 
of  logic  and  protested  against  the  lack  of  observation, 
that  so  many  eager  inquirers  have  ever  since  been 
patiently  interrogating  Nature,  and  in  a  thousand 
ways  seeking  to  elicit  answers  to  the  problems  which 
constantly  force  themselves  upon  us.  Even  hostile 
critics  are  compelled  to  acknowledge  the  worth  of  his 
labors,  but  they  tell  us  that  he  led  the  thinking  world 
far  into  sensationalism  ;  as  if  that  bore  down  and 
blackened  this  noble  spirit  of  sound  wisdom  which 
labored  so  earnestly  to  remove  obstructions  and  go  on 
to  ultimate  truth.  We  grant  that  to  some  extent 
these  criticisms  are  just.  The  theories  of  Hobbes, 
both  political  and  moral,  which,  as  Hallam  says,  "sear  / 
up  the  heart  and  take  away  the  sense  of  wrong,"  were 
the  outgrowth  of  the  inductive  philosopher's  meth- 
od ;  nevertheless,  his  great   heart  beat  responsive  to 


12  Introduction. 

truth,  and  for  its  advancement  his  life  was  given. 
Then,  too,  perhaps  we  owe  the  Essay  on  the  Human 
Understanding  to  the  impulse  given  by  this  great  man 
to  free  inquiry.  As  one  opens  the  immortal  work  of 
John  Locke  he  is  at  once  impressed  with  its  quaint 
vigor  and  rugged  boldness.  He  had  a  plan  of  his 
own,  based  all  upon  the  phenomena^pf  mind,  and, 
9  pushing  fearlessly  out,  gave  to  the  world  a  treatise 
which  influenced  thought  beyond  all  calculation ;  in- 
fluenced it  for  evil  to  a  great  extent  in  calling  into 
the  field  such  works  as  those  of  Priestley  in  England, 
and  Condillac  in  France,  and  helping  to  build  up  a 
system  which  finally  went  a  long  way  toward  degrad- 
ing morality  and  dethroning  God,  unsettling  govern- 
ments and  breeding  pestilential  social  vagaries.  But 
who  will  presume  to  strike  the  balance  in  the  long 
account? 

To  Descartes  we  owe  even  more  than  to  Bacon. 
He  it  was  who,  with  vigorous  mental  independence, 
built  up  an  ideal  philosophy,  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  which  have  not  yet  suffered  removal.  But, 
as  is  the  fate  of  many  a  leading  mind,  he  under- 
took, by  a  single  general  method,  to  solve  all  prob- 
lems, and  led  his  followers  into  pure  objective  ideal- 
18m,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  works  of  Spinoza.  But 
the  writings  of  Descartes  more  than  atoned  for  all 
tiiis  in  bringing  out  such  men  as  Butler  and  Clarke, 
t<>  do  valiant  service  in  the  armies  of  truth. 

It  was  upon  German  soil,  however,  that  Idealism 


Introduction.  13 

had  its  most  vigorous  growth.  Here  its  foremost 
representative  was  Leibnitz,  a  man  of  profound  mind 
and  great  learning,  who  devoted  himself  with  unflag- 
ging zeal  and  broad  liberality  to  the  analysis  of  the 
systems  of  Descartes  and  Locke  and  the  advance- 
ment of  philosophical  culture.  There  seemed,  some- 
thing almost  divine  in  the  masterful  grasp  with  which 
the  great  geometer's  giant  intellect  held  a  subject  and 
analyzed  it. 

Idealism  in  more  modern  times  has  given  to  the 
world  such  men  as  Stuart,  Mackintosh,  and  Hamilton 
in  Scotland  ;  as  Fichte,  Hegel,  and  Schelling  in  Ger- 
many, who,  with  their  great  leader,  Immanuel  Kant, 
have  won  for  their  country  immortal  fame  as  the 
land  of  ideal  philosophy.  While  Sensationalism  has 
furnished  Mill,  Lewes,  and  Bentham  in  England  ; 
Tracy,  Yolney,  and  Comte  in  France — men  who  have 
made  for  themselves  great  popularity,  but  some  of 
whom  have  pursued  a  cherished  theory  far  into  the 
maze  of  unreason  and  folly. 

I  know  it  is  the  fashion  in  some  circles  to  shrink  ■ 
with  a  sort  of  holy  horror  from  whatever  looks  like 
unfaithfulness  to  the  old  creeds,  and  to  cast  out  with  ig- 
nominy the  names  of  all  skeptical  leaders.  But,  witl^ 
all  my  love  for  the  generally  accepted  doctrines  of  our 
holy  Christianity,  I  regard  as  of  profound  interest  the 
study  of  the  growth  and  influence  of  rationalism  in 
all  its  forms  ;  and  instead  of  shrinking  in  disgust  and 
dread  from  such  men  as  Rousseau,  Mill,  Huxley,  and 


14  Introduction. 

Spencer,  I  welcome  them  as  in  God's  providence 
doing  a  work  which  needs  to  be  accomplished  in 
the  onward  march  of  Christian  civilization.  There 
are  heaven-born  questions  as  well  as  earth-born 
doubts.  It  is  only  the  failure  to  distinguish  between 
the  two  that  produces  trouble. 

There  are  two  classes  of  people,  and  only  two,  who 
would  have  us  believe  that  there  exists  a  deadly  con- 
flict between  Christianity  and  science.  The  one  is 
composed  of  those  enthusiasts  in  religion  who  have 
made  but  the  slightest  advance  in  scientific  or  theol- 
ogical inquiry,  and  yet  absurdly  assume  that  they  are 
set  to  guard  the  sacred  portals  against  the  inroads 
of  what  to  them  seems  godless  science  ;  the  other 
consists  of  men  who,  with  shallow  brains,  but  apt 
speech,  have  succeeded  in  catching  the  public  ear,  and 
are  making  a  mock  of  both  religion  and  science  in  the 
name  of  "  liberality."  Both  are  enemies  to  mankind  ; 
the  former  because  they  claim  to  possess  the  whole  of 
truth  (and  it  is  this  spirit  which  in  all  history  lias 
given  rise  to  persecution) ;  the  latter  because  they  are 
hypocrites  of  the  deepest  dye.  Professing  to  be  lov- 
ers of  truth,  these  men  are  merely  lovers  of  self ; 
professing  to  be  reasoners,  they  are  only  scoffers  ;  pro- 
fessing to  have  personally  discovered  the  facts,  they 
take  every  thing  at  ''second-hand,'"  and  at  the  best 
can  offer  nothing  but  negations.  They  have  not 
the  faintest  resemblance  to  the  genuine  searcher  after 
truth. 


Introduction.  15 

The  conflict  in  which  we  are  now  engaged  was  in- 
evitable ;  and  why  may  we  not  rejoice  in  it,  if  it  but 
strike  off  the  fetters  which  stifle  conscience  and  de- 
fraud it  of  its  freedom,  and  give  us  a  religion  strong 
in  the  strength  of  its  own  inherent  virtue?  From 
the  remotest  corners  of  creation,  and  from  the  recesses 
of  man's  own  soul,  are  being  brought  the  rich  results 
of  persevering  search.  No  longer  chained,  the  human 
mind  hesitates  not  to  venture  the  boldest  inquiries. 
Girded  with  the  power  of  an  all-conquering  faith  in 
the  harmony  between  nature  and  nature's  God,  lovers 
of  truth,  rather  than  lovers  of  antiquity  and  self,  are 
at  work — some  on  the  old-time  field  of  Europe,  some 
in  our  own  land  ;  and  it  matters  not  what  name  the 
world  gives  them,  in  what  school  it  places  them, 
with  how  much  of  suspicion  it  regards  them,  how 
bitterly  they  are  hated  or  maligned — such  workers  are 
the  need  of  the  times,  such  thinkers  are  helping  to 
banish  intolerance  from  the  world,  and  crush  out  tho4^uX- 
spirit  of  tyranny.  They  are  helping  to  emancipate  \^ 
conscience,  and  enthrone  Christ  in  every  heart.  They  <J^ 
are  spreading  broadcast  among  the  people  princi- 
ples all  athrob  with  vitality,  individuality,  and  im- 
mortality. 

What  though  some  tares  are  sown  and  spring 
rankly  up !  The  Lord  of  the  harvest  will  attend  to 
these.  More  and  more  strong  has  become  my  belief, 
during  these  last  years,  in  a  sort  of  divine  conserva- 
tion of  truth.     God  permits  blatant  infidelity  to  blow 


16  Introduction. 

the  fires  of  his  own  furnaces,  until,  the  crudities  all 
burned  out  of  man  and  system,  only  the  genuine 
metal  remains. 

As  it  is  within  the  power  of  God  to  cause  the  wrath 
of  man  to  praise  him,  so  is  it  within  his  power  to 
cause  the  opposition  of  skeptics  to  assist  in  strength- 
ening the  bulwarks  of  Christian  faith,  and  in  broaden- 
ing the  foundations  of  Theism.  This  power  he  is 
constantly  displaying  in  every  department  of  science, 
in  a  manner  full  of  most  cheering  promise.  Truth 
is  one.     The  search  is  one.     The  searchers  shall 

YET  SEE 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  Page 

I.  In  His  Origin 19 

II.  In  His  Physical  Structure 77 

III.  In  His  Speech 135 

IV.  In  His  Mental  Characteristics 201 

V.  In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature 255 

VI.  In  His  Achievements 317 

VII.  In  His  Aspirations 365 

VIII.  In  His  Regeneration  and  Adoption 389 


"So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God 
created  lie  him ;  male  and  female  created  he  them." — Moses. 

"  Life  may  be  a  mystery,  but  most  certainly  it  is  not  a  mechanism. 
New  consequents  demand  new  antecedents,  and  life  cannot  spring 
from  death  without  the  intervention  of  a  Power  which  is  itself 
alive." — Sexton. 

"  All  really  scientific  experience  tells  us  that  life  can  be  produced 
from  a  living  antecedent  only." — The  Unseen  Universe. 

"TVe  are  in  the  presence  of  the  one  incommunicable  gulf — the 
gulf  of  all  gulfs — that  gulf  which  Mr.  Huxley's  protoplasm  is  as 
powerless  to  efface  as  any  other  material  expedient  that  has  ever 
been  suggested  since  the  eyes  of  man  first  looked  into  it — the  mighty 
gulf  between  death  and  life." — Sterling. 

"  I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Lite."— Christ. 


Man  a  Revelation  of  God 


CHAPTER  I. 
IN    HIS    ORIGIN. 

SECTION    FIRST. 

Man   is  the    highest   in    order    of  earthly  exist- 
ences, and  the  study  of  man  must  ever  be  of  chief 
importance.     Problems   pertaining  to  man's   origin 
and  destiny  are  intrinsically  difficult  to  solve.     This 
difficulty  stimulates  inquiry.     Vigorous  minds  love 
rugged  questions.     Our  present  inquiry  has  of  late 
been  lifted  out  of  the  domain  of  metaphysics  into 
that  of  physics.      In  place  of  the  dialectics  of  the 
logician,  we  are  called  upon  to  examine  the  reactions 
of  the  chemist.     Instead  of  the  wordy  discussions  of 
scholastics,  we   have  the    hypotheses   of   naturalists, 
often  equally  wordy.     All  this  is  well.     Progress  is 
pleasing  and  profitable.     Truth  is  its  own  vindicator. 
Failures  teach  men  wisdom,  and  at  least  tend  to  teach 
them  modesty.     Keliance  upon  material  science  may 
yet   bring    the    proud    arrogance    of    the    world   to 
reliance  upon  a   Supreme  Creator  and  Upholder  of 


20  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

the  material  universe.  Looking  outside  ourselves  for 
the  sure  evidence,  and  finding  it  not,  we  may  be  led 
to  a  closer  look  within. 

Man  reveals  God  in  many  ways.  The  purpose  of  this 
chapter  is  to  show  that  he  reveals  him  in  his  origin. 

We  assume  that  man  has  a  physical  existence. 
With  those  who  deny  this,  and  claim  that  being  is 
only  seeming i  that  there  are  no  entities,  but  sim- 
ply concepts ;  that  shadows  we  are,  from  shadows 
we  came,  and  with  the  universal  shadow  we  must 
eventually  commingle — with  such  philosophers  we 
have  no  controversy.  Assuming,  then,  the  existence 
of  man  as  a  physical  being,  upon  a  physical  earth, 
surrounded  by  a  material  universe,  our  inquiry  is 
simply,  How  did  he  get  here? 

Various  answers  have  been  given.  Upon  these 
answers  depends  the  answer  to  a  question  even  more 
momentous — whether  or  not  his  getting  here  reveals 
a  Supernatural  Power.  If  the  answers  given  by 
those  who  refuse  to  acknowledge  a  personal  Creator 
can  be  shown  to  be  inadequate  to  account  for  the 
result,  unsatisfactory  to  reason,  and  out  of  harmony 
with  facts,  much  troublesome  trash  which  has  hith- 
erto obscured  the  vision  of  multitudes  will  be  swept 
away.  If,  in  addition  to  this  negative  evidence,  we 
find  that  the  answer  given  in  the  Book  purporting  to 
be  a  divine  revelation  is  in  perfect  harmony  with 
all  ascertained  facts  as  taught  by  the  most  advanced 
science,  and  fully  adequate  to  account  for  the  result, 


In  His  Origin.  21 

we  shall  be  obliged,  as  reasonable  beings,  to  accept 
it  as  satisfactory,  and  to  frankly  acknowledge  the 
revelation  of  God  in  man's  origin. 

First,  then,  as  to  the  naturalistic  answers  which 
have  been  given. 

They  are  not  numerous,  but  have  taken  on  many 
different  phases,  and  brought  forth  a  multitude  of 
hypotheses,  defended  in  a  mass  of  treatises,  good, 
bad,  and  indifferent,  a  tenth  part  of  which  it  is  im- 
possible for  any  but  professional  students  to  examine. 
A  few,  however,  will  fairly  represent  the  whole. 

SPONTANEOUS    GENERATION. 

Spontaneous  generation  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  the 
old  theories  of  materialistic  science.  Many  who  pro- 
fess thorough  acquaintance  with  science  seem  to 
regard  it  as  a  new  theory.  But  this  is  only  an 
instance  of  a  common  error.  Men  with  meager 
attainments  in  science  or  literature  often  assume  to 
possess  large  knowledge.  We  should  naturally  ex- 
pect the  masses  in  an  unscientific  age  to  believe  in 
spontaneous  generation.  During  the  long  summer 
days  every  stagnant  pool  and  road-side  ditch  brings 
forth  its  myriads  before  their  eyes  without  any  vis- 
ible ancestry.  The  old  barrel  that  was  empty  till 
the  last  shower,  a  few  weeks  ago,  and  into  which 
only  pure  rain-water  fell,  is  now  teeming  with  life. 
The  bottle  in  which  was  placed  only  water,  and 
which  has  6tood   upon   the  shelf  closely   stoppered 


22  Man  a  Rev  elation  of  God. 

for  a  month,  is  found  to  contain  unmistakable  evi- 
dences of  organized  structure.  The  natural  infer- 
ence is — spontaneous  generation ;  and  any  one  who 
will  be  at  the  pains  to  examine  literature  and  his- 
tory will  find  that  far  back  in  mediaeval  times,  and 
down  to  as  late  as  the  seventeenth  century,  almost 
every  body  believed  in  it. 

The  spirit  of  investigation  which  arose  under  Bacon 
and  Descartes  set  men  to  experimenting,  and  the}' 
soon  found  that  spontaneous  generation  was  a  myth  ; 
that  in  the  water  supposed  to  be  pure  there  were 
multitudes  of  life-germs,  which  needed  only  the  genial 
warmth  of  the  sunlight  and  the  quiet  of  stagnation  to 
develop  into  full  animal  existences ;  that  even  in  the 
air  we  breathe  there  exist  innumerable  germs  await- 
ing favoring  conditions  to  throb  into  life.  Experi- 
ments made  by  Eedi,  the  great  naturalist  of  Italy,  in 
1668  —  of  special  interest  because  they  were,  per- 
haps, the  earliest  in  this  field — showed,  beyond  rea- 
sonable question,  that  all  forms  of  animal  life  which 
have  been  supposed  to  originate  without  ancestry 
were  really  hatched  from  germs  previously  deposited. 
It  remained  for  the  "  advanced  science  "  of  the  pres- 
ent century  to  revive  this  dead  theory,  and  bring 
it  out  in  support  of  evolution.  It  was  arrayed  in 
beauty  by  Hseckel,  Huxley,  and  Bastian,  and  for  a 
decade  made  a  great  stir  in  scientific  circles.  Haeck- 
el,  in  his  Ilistonj  of  Creation,  says :  "  A  truly  natu- 
ral and   consistent    view   of   organisms  can  assume 


In  His  Origin.  23 

no  supernatural  act  of  creation  for  even  those  sim- 
plest original  forms,  but  only  a  coming  into  exist- 
ence by  spontaneous  generation."  Mr.  Huxley  makes 
an  equally  unequivocal  avowal  of  his  belief  in  the 
origin  of  life  without  antecedent  life  when  he  says : 
"If  it  were  given  me  to  look  beyond  the  abyss 
of  recorded  time,  I  should  expect  to  be  a  witness 
of  the  evolution  of  living  protoplasm  from  not-living 
matter."  And  Mr.  Tyndall  professes  to  see  the 
"  promise  and  potency  of  all  terrestrial  life  in  mat- 
ter," although  he  has  since  squarely  and  strongly 
repudiated  the  theory. 

In  his  great  work,  The  Evolution  of  Man,  pub- 
lished in  1879,  in  two  volumes  of  five  hundred  pages 
each,  Hseckel  renews  his  championship  of  this  the- 
ory. In  the  opening  of  his  preface  he  boldly  shows 
his  spleen  against  Christianity  and  the  Bible,  and 
closes  the  argument  with  the  following  precious  bit 
of  information : 

"  Anthropogeny  lias  led  us  to  the  conclusion  that 
even  in  the  entire  history  of  the  evolution  of  man, 
in  the  history  of  the  germ  as  well  as  in  that  of  the 
tribe,  no  other  active  forces  have  been  at  work  than  in 
the  rest  of  organic  and  inorganic  nature.  All  the 
forces  at  work  there  can  be  reduced  at  last  to  growth 
— to  that  fundamental  function  of  evolution  by  which 
the  forms  of  inorganic  as  well  as  of  organic  bodies 
originate.  Growth,  again,  itself  rests  on  the  attrac- 
tion and  repulsion  of  like  and  unlike  particles.     It  has 


24  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

given  rise  to  man  and  to  ape,  to  palm  and  to  alga,  to 
crystal  and  water.  Hence  the  evolution  of  man  has 
taken  place  according  to  the  same  '  eternal,  immutable 
laws '  as  has  the  evolution  of  any  other  natural  body. 
The  spirit  and  mind  of  man  are  but  forces  which  are 
inseparably  connected  with  the  material  substance  of 
our  bodies."  *  All  of  which,  it  will  be  readily  seen, 
is  mere  assumption. 

His  whole  argument  is  lacking  in  continuity.  As 
a  specimen  of  his  reasoning  we  may  take  the  fol- 
lowing. After  entering  into  a  long  disquisition  upon 
"  cy tulse  "  and  "  cytococci,"  "  nucleoli "  and  u  mon- 
erculse,"  terms  invented  to  impress  the  unsophisti- 
cated or  "  priestly  "  reader,  he  says :  "  We  regard  it 
as  a  fact  of  the  greatest  interest  that  the  human 
child,  like  that  of  every  other  animal,  is,  in  the  first 
stage  of  its  individual  existence,  a  nonnucleated  ball 
of  protoplasm,  a  true  cytod,  a  homogeneous,  struct- 
ureless body,  without  different  constituent  parts."  f 
But  he  has  nowhere  offered  any  data  to  prove  his 
so-called  "  interesting  fact,"  and  his  "  regarding "  it 
as  such  is  simply  "  begging  the  question." 

IT.  Charlton  Bastian,  M.D.,  in  a  ponderous  treatise 
of  a  thousand  pages,  entitled  The  Beginnings  of  Life, 
takes  the  strongest  ground  for  spontaneous  genera- 
tion, or,  as  he  delights  to  term  it,  archebiosis.  He 
says :  "  The  possibility  of  spontaneous  generation  must 
be  considered  to  turn  almost  wholly  upon  the  possi- 

*  The  Evolution  of  Man,  vol.  ii,  p.  457.  f  Ibid.,  vol.  i,  p.  179. 


In  His  Origin.  25 

bility  of  the  de  novo  origin  of  bacteria.  Evidence 
which  is  of  the  most  convincing  character,  when 
looked  at  from  all  sides,  now  shows  that  bacteria 
are  killed  by  a  temperature  of  140°  F.,  yet  similar 
organisms  will  constantly  appear  and  rapidly  mul- 
tiply within  closed  flasks  containing  organic  fluids, 
although  the  flasks  and  their  contents  have  been 
previously  exposed  for  some  time  to  a  temperature 
of  212°  F."* 

But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  this  establishes  nothing, 
for  the  conditions  of  an  accurate  experiment  have  in 
none  of  his  elaborately  instanced  cases  been  fully  met. 
M.  Pasteur  long  ago  proved  them  utterly  invalid, 
one  and  all.  Nor  was  he  alone  in  the  work  of  refut- 
ing the  claims  of  spontaneous  generation.  Mungo 
Ponton,  F.R.S.E.,  after  giving  in  detail  the  experi- 
ments of  Bastian  and  others,  concludes  a  learned  and 
able  argument  with  these  words  :  "  It  will  be  per- 
ceived that  all  the  experiments  fall  far  short  of  prov- 
ing living  organisms  to  have  been  produced  by  the 
combination  of  purely  inorganic  materials  aided  by 
the  stimulus  of  light,  heat,  and  electricity."  f 

But  so  arrogant  are  the  claims  which  skepticism 
still  bases  upon  this  refuted  theory,  that  I  am  con- 
strained to  give  some  account  of  the  experiments 
which  were  made  by  the  foremost  men  of  science 
from  1870  to  1877.     A  summary  by  Professor  Cal- 

*  The  Beginnings  of  Life,  vol.  i,  p.  6. 

f  The  Beginning:  Its  When  and  Its  How,  p.  170. 


26  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

derwood  affords  as  full  a  view  as  is  possible  in  brief 
space.     He  says : 

"  A  considerable  number  of  investigators  began  to 
turn  their  attention  to  the  subject,  and  a  period  of 
seven  years  was  occupied  before  the  results  became  so 
certain  as  to  be  practically  final.  Pasteur,  Pouchet, 
and  Joubret  were  at  work  in  France;  Crooks,  Child, 
Beale,  Roberts,  Bastian,  Tyndall,  and  others  in  En- 
gland. All  experiments  concentrated  upon  certainty 
in  sterilizing  the  substance  operated  upon.  Pasteur 
pointed  out  that  the  chemical  properties  of  the  infu- 
sion affected  the  vitality  of  the  microscopic  germs  in- 
closed in  it ;  and  Roberts  at  a  later  stage  confirmed 
this  by  independent  investigation,  proving  that  slight- 
ly alkaline  liquids  are  more  difficult  to  sterilize  by 
heat  than  slightly  acid  liquids.  In  this  way  it  was 
shown  that  distinct  records  of  temperature  were  need- 
ful, greater  intensity  of  heat  being  required  in  some 
cases  than  in  others  in  order  to  secure  destruction  of 
germs.  The  facts  were  illustrated  by  hay  infusion; 
the  acid  infusion  invariably  remaining  barren  after 
a  few  minutes  boiling,  and  the  neutralized  infusion 
invariably  becoming  fertile  after  a  similar  boiling. 

"  The  neutralizing  element  was  liquor  potassse,  and 
the  next  question  started  was  this  :  Did  the  liquor 
potassse  enable  the  germs  to  live  longer  under  the 
boiling  process,  or  did  its  infusion  operate  so  as  to 
originate  life  where  germs  no  longer  had  any  exist- 
ence 1     A  contrivance  was  adopted  by  which  the  boil- 


In  His  Origin.  27 

ing  could  be  applied  to  the  hay  infusion  while  the 
liquor  potassse  was  kept  inclosed  in  another  part  of 
the  tube,  ready  to  be  added  without  exposure  to  the 
air  after  the  boiling  process  was  over.  When  added 
in  this  way  the  liquor  potassse  had  not  any  power  to 
excite  germination  ;  the  expectation  that  a  certain 
mixture  of  acid  and  alkali  would  originate  life  was 
disappointed ;  all  the  earlier  experiments  were  dis- 
credited. Still  some  clung  to  their  expressed  belief, 
for  there  is  a  prejudice  of  advanced  thought  as  there 
is  a  prejudice  of  old  beliefs.  Tenacity  of  avowed 
opinion,  with  strong  love  of  research,  prolonged  the 
inquiry  and  led  to  more  decided  evidence. 

"  The  controversy  was  conducted  by  Dr.  Roberts 
against  Dr.  Bastian,  while  all  the  experiments  of  Pro- 
fessor Tyndall  were  converging  upon  the  same  con- 
clusions as  those  reached  by  Roberts.  That  Bastian 
had  obtained  bacteria  after  boiling  admitted  of  no 
doubt,  and  he  naturally  clung  to  this  fact  as  encour- 
aging ;  others  regarded  it  as  only  misleading.  Bas- 
tian maintained  that  the  alkali  had  a  positive  power 
of  originating  life,  and  stated  122°  F.  as  favorable  to 
the  appearance  of  life.  Roberts  took  ten  examples 
of  sterilized  urine,  and  twenty-nine  examples  of  fer- 
mentable liquids  which  had  remained  over  from  the 
earlier  experiments  of  1873-74,  and  these  thirty-nine 
examples  were  subjected  to  careful  experiment  and 
observation.  In  the  first  ten  cases  the  tube  was  heated 
in  oil  for  fifteen  minutes  up  to  280°  F.     The  ten  tubes 


28  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

were  then  set  in  a  warm  place  (from  70°  to  80°  F.) 
for  a  fortnight  ;  the  contents  were  transparent  ; 
the  alkali  was  then  allowed  to  mingle  with  it,  and  the 
tubes  were  placed  in  an  incubator  kept  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  115°  F.  ;  at  the  end  of  two  days  there  was  a 
sediment,  and  the  liquor  was  clear  ;  the  tubes  were 
replaced  in  the  incubator,  the  temperature  being  raised 
to  122°  F.,  as  recommended  by  Dr.  Bastian  ;  there 
they  continued  for  three  days  ;  they  were  then  with- 
drawn and  placed  under  the  microscope,  but  no  trace 
of  living  organism  was  found  either  in  the  fluid  or  in 
the  deposit  under  it.  The  twenty-nine  cases,  includ- 
ing a  variety  of  vegetable  and  animal  preparations, 
were  next  treated  in  like  manner,  and  with  like  re- 
sults, Tyndall's  experiments  were  reported  to  the 
Royal  Society  of  London  at  the  same  time,  with  ex- 
actly the  same  result.  M.  Pasteur  had  previously 
reported  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in  Paris  to  the 
same  effect.  It  was  thus  proved  by  a  mass  of  evidence 
that,  if  proper  precautions  were  taken  to  destroy  ger- 
minal forms,  no  mixture  of  alkali  with  acid,  whatever 
the  variety  of  materials  selected,  was  adequate  to 
produce  life."  * 

The  same  searching  experiments  were  continued  in 
all  directions  for  several  years  thereafter,  with  the 
same  outcome  from  every  quarter.  Microscopes  of 
the  highest  magnifying  power  ever  constructed  were 
used  in  carefully  watching  the  development   of  the 

*  Henry  Calderwood,  LL.D.,  Science  and  Religion,  p.  52. 


In  His  Origin.  20 

smallest  germs,  and  no  one  found  a  genuine  case  of 
spontaneous  generation.  Thus  the  matter  stands  at 
the  present  writing,  and  there  need  be  no  fear 
that  this  once  popular  hypothesis  of  unbelief  will 
ever  be  proven  true. 

NATURAL    SELECTION. 

Another  pretentious  theory  endeavors  to  account 
for  man's  origin  without  the  immediate  creative 
agency  of  supernatural  power,  by  natural  selection,  or 
survival  of  the  fittest.  These  terms  have  come  into 
common  use  since  the  publication  of  Darwin's  Origin 
of  Species  in  1859. 

The  theory  of  man's  descent  from  some  lower  or- 
der of  animals  did  not,  however,  originate  with  Dar- 
win. But  he  brought  to  its  elucidation  such  a  wealth 
of  learning,  such  an  array  of  facts  in  Natural  History, 
and,  withal,  such  a  serious  spirit  of  candid  inquiry, 
that  the  old  theory  seemed  genuinely  new,  and  the 
majority  of  his  readers  have  doubtless  regarded 
Charles  Darwin  as  the  originator  of  what  is  vulgarly 
assumed  to  be  the  "  theory  of  man's  descent  from  the  * 
monkey."  The  publication  of  his  book  was  oppor- 
tune, and  his  title  a  taking  one. 

The  critical  spirit  was  abroad.  Old  faiths  were 
being  rigidly  re-examined.  The  Bible  was  assailed 
with  bitter  hostility.  Physical  science,  by  reason  of 
surprising  advances,  had  become  arrogant,  and  confi- 
dent  of  new  triumphs.     The  times  were  ripe,  and 


30  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

within  a  few  months  after  the  publication  of  The 
Origin  of  Species  "  evolution  "  was  the  most  popu- 
lar term  in  science,  and  Charles  Darwin  the  most 
popular  scientist,  notwithstanding  his  humble  origin. 
Naturally  enough,  many  of  his  disciples  soon  got  far 
beyond  their  master.  Hypotheses  were  set  up  which 
Darwin  never  intended,  and  which  he  persistently 
repudiated.  Exponents  were  many ;  some  of  them 
were  able  and  clear,  and  do  justice  to  Mr.  Darwin  by 
placing  his  theory  before  the  world  in  its  best  aspects, 
separated  from  the  immense  mass  of  cumbersome 
details  with  which  he  had  been  compelled  to  sur- 
round it.  Perhaps  no  fuller,  or  more  just,  under- 
standing of  his  doctrine  of  derivation  of  species  can 
anywhere  be  obtained  in  brief  compass  than  in  the 
summarization  of  his  fundamental  principles  or  laws 
by  Alfred  Russell  Wallace,  who,  in  a  work  of  rare 
merit,  entitled  Natural  Selection,  published  in  1871, 
has  done  about  all  that  learning  and  genius  can  pos- 
sibly do  to  make  the  theory  of  natural  selection  stand 
alone.  As  given  by  Dawson,  these  so-called  laws  are 
as  follows : 

"First,  the  law  of  multiplication  of  animals  in  geo- 
metrical proportion.  By  this,  any  animal,  if  un- 
checked, would  soon  fill  the  world  with  its  progeny. 
The  checks  are  supplied  by  the  destruction  of  germs 
and  of  adults  by  enemies;  by  limitation  of  geograph- 
ical range;  by  limitation  to  particular  kinds  of  food, 
and  by  other  causes. 


In  His  Origin.  31 

"  Second,  the  law  of  limited  population,  whereby  the 
habitable  area  afforded  by  the  earth  has  always  been 
stocked  with  inhabitants ;  so  that  the  introduction  of 
any  new  form  of  life  must  involve  the  extinction  of 
others,  and  the  spread  of  any  one  beyond  its  former 
limits  must  involve  the  limitation  of  others,  while 
the  germs  produced  by  every  kind  of  animal  and 
plant  must,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  fail  to  find 
space  for  their  development.  Hence  is  supposed  to 
arise  a  constant  'struggle  for  existence.' 

"  Third,  the  law  of  heredity,  by  which  the  prog- 
eny of  all  animals  resemble  their  parents  in  all  essen- 
tial points  though  differing  in  individual  details,  and 
whereby  also  individual  peculiarities  acquired  by  the 
parent  may  be  transmitted  to  its  offspring. 

"  Fourth,  the  law  of  derivation,  by  which  such  dif- 
ferences, under  the  influence  of  external  conditions, 
accumulate  until  they  give  rise  to  distinct  variations 
in  form,  or  to  races,  as  we  observe  to  be  the  case  in 
so  marked  a  way  in  our  domesticated  animals,  but  not 
to  so  great  an  extent  in  wild  animals.  This  is  one 
reason  why  we  can  domesticate  some  species  and  not 
others. 

"  Fifth,  the  law  of  change  of  physical  conditions, 
whereby  certain  areas  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  be- 
come different  at  one  time  from  what  they  were  at 
another,  in  the  conditions  necessary  to  life.  Thus,  we 
know  that  in  the  miocene  tertiary  period  the  climate 
of   Greenland   and   Spitzbergen   was    so    mild    that 


32  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

plants  like  those  of  the  Middle  States  could  flourish 
in  those  now  inhospitable  regions.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  the  post-pliocene  time  an  Arctic  climate 
extended  further  south  than  at  present,  over  our 
continents  and  seas.  We  know  also  that  nearly  all 
parts  of  our  continents  have  been  many  times  sub- 
merged for  long  periods,  and  re-elevated  to  a  higher 
position  than  now. 

"  Sixth,  the  law  of  the  equilibrium  of  nature, 
whereby  individual  varieties  and  species  well  adapted 
to  their  environment  flourish,  while  those  less  per- 
fectly adapted  decay ;  and,  as,  according  to  the  pre- 
vious laws,  the  conditions  are  constantly  changing, 
the  struggle  for  existence  constantly  goes  on,  and  the 
animals  being  liable  to  vary,  and  perpetuate  varieties, 
there  must  of  necessity  be  a  gradual  change  in  the 
animal  population  of  the  earth.  That  is,  those  which 
change  so  as  to  become  suitable  to  the  changed  condi- 
tions  live,  and  those  which  become  unsuitable  die." 

This  admirably  clear  statement  by  Mr.  Dawson 
makes  the  theory  plausible.  Look  beneath  the  sur- 
face, however,  and  substance  is  wanting.  Certain 
very  patent  facts  are  presented  in  well-chosen  lan- 
guage. But,  closely  examined,  they  will  not  be  found 
to  furnish  support  to  the  hypothesis  of  evolution  of 
species  by  natural  selection,  or  the  origin  of  man  from 
lower  orders  of  animal  existence.  Why?  Simply 
because  in  all  this  change  and  progress  by  reason  of 
favorable   conditions,    changes  of  environment,  etc., 


In  His  Origin.  33 

there  is  no  account  given  of  how  the  conditions  and 
environment  were  brought  about ;  and  we  are  left 
quite  as  much  dependent  upon  a  Creator  of  conditions 
as  we  should  be,  without  this  theory,  upon  a  Creator 
of  species.  Dr.  Hutchinson  Sterling  has  well  and 
tersely  said :  "  Mr.  Darwin  has  simply  shown,  but 
with  an  amazing  wealth  of  illustration  and  an  amaz- 
ing love  of  hypothesis,  what  we  have  known  all 
along,  that  life  is  dependent  on  conditions,  to  which 
conditions  it  is  also  pliable ;  but  he  has  not  traced 
life  to  conditions — he  has  not  shown  any  origin  of  life 
from  conditions,  with  consequent  ultimate  develop- 
ment into  the  organized  world  as  it  now  exists." 

Concerning  the  very  problem  at  issue,  neither  the 
great  leader  nor  any  of  his  host  of  followers  furnishes 
any  satisfactory  information.  It  is  as  far  from  solu- 
tion as  before,  notwithstanding  the  erudition  displayed 
in  its  handling  and  the  elaborate  treatises  published 
for  its  unfolding.  Darwin  himself  virtually  con- 
fesses failure  near  the  close  of  his  second  volume  of 
The  Descent  of  Man  ;  and,  though  not  in  the  exact 
words,  yet  substantially,  confesses  that  in  the  process 
of  natural  selection  there  is  an  unseen,  all-controlling  ^ 
power  which  guides  to  a  definite  and  purposed  end.  ^ 
He  refuses  to  spell  it  with  three  letters,  and  denies 
that  he  admits  its  existence,  but  admits  it  notwith- 
standing. His  own  words  are  :  "  The  birth  both  of 
the  species  and  of  the  individual  are  equally  parts  of 

the  grand  sequence  of  events  which  our  minds  refuse 
2* 


.34  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

to  accept  as  the  result  of  blind  chance.  The  under- 
standing revolts  at  such  a  conclusion,  whether  or  not 
we  are  able  to  believe  that  every  slight  variation 
of  structure,  the  union  of  each  pair  in  marriage, 
the  dissemination  of  each  seed,  and  other  such 
events,  have  all  been  ordained  for  some  special  pur- 
pose." * 

This  is  about  as  clear  a  confession  of  faith  in  a 
supernatural  Creator  as  we  could  expect  from  an 
avowed  champion  of  naturalism.  This  spirit  seems 
to  pervade  much  of  his  work.  It  is  seen  in  that  re- 
markable product  of  painstaking  genius  entitled  The 
Variation,  of  Animals  and  Plants  Under  Domesti- 
cation, published  nine  years  after  The  Descent  of 
Many  wherein  he  shows  us  in  detail  thousands  of 
cases  of  interesting  changes  wrought,  apparently,  by 
natural  selection,  but  manifestly  under  the  guidance 
*T  of  an  unseen  power.  And  yet,  with  strange  and  un- 
accountable inconsistency,  after  admitting  all  this,  as 
if  hounded  by  some  infidel  spirit  determined  not  to 
allow  him  to  be  called  a  theist,  Mr.  Darwin  affirms 
that  natural  selection  accounts  for  man  and  all  the 
higher  animals  as  developed  from  inferior  creatures 
without  supernatural  intervention ! 

The  folly  of  such  assertions,  the  unreasonableness  of 

all  attempts  to  get  rid  of  God  by  naturalistic  theories, 

is  well  stated  by  Dr.  Martineau  in  Christianity  and 

Modern  Thought ;  a  work  of  genuine  worth,  and  en- 

*  The  Descent  of  Man,  vol    ii.  p.  396. 


In  His  Origin.  35 

tirelj  free  from  any  uncalled-for  thrusts  at  skeptical 
science.     He  says  : 

"Is  it  not,  in  truth,  a  strange  choice  to  set  up  'evo- 
lution,' of  all  things,  as  the  negation  of  purpose  pre- 
disposing what,  is  to  come?  For  what  does  the  word 
mean,  and  whence  is  it  borrowed  ?  It  means  to  un- 
fold from  within,  and  it  is  taken  from  the  history  of 
the  seed  .or  embryo  of  living  natures. 

"  And  what  is  the  seed  bnt  a  casket  of  pre-arranged 
futurities,  with  its  whole  contents  prospective,  settled 
to  be  what  they  are  by  reference  to  ends  still  in  the 
distance  ?  Surely  nothing  can  be  evolved  that  is  not 
first  involved  ;  and  if  there  be  any  thing  which  not 
only  carries  a  definite  future  in  it,  but  has  the  whole 
rationale  of  its  present  constitution  grounded  in  that 
future,  it  is  the  embryo,  whence  by  a  strange  humor 
this  denial  of  final  causes  has  chosen  to  borrow  its  name. 
To  take  away  the  ideal  basis  of  nature,  and  yet  con- 
strue it  by  the  analogy  of  organic  growth,  will  be  fur- 
ever  felt  as  a  contradiction.  It  is  to  put  out  the  eyes 
of  the  Past  in  order  to  show  us  with  what  secure  pre- 
cision, amid  distracting  paths  and  over  chasms  bridged 
by  a  hair,  it  selects  its  way  into  the  Future."* 

Not  only  has  this  pretentious  hypothesis,  from 
which  so  much  was  hoped  by  infidels  and  from  which 
so  much  was  feared  by  Christians,  failed  to  satisfac- 
torily account  for  man's  origin,  but  it  has  failed  to 
show  even  one  clear  case  of  the  origination  of  a  dis- 

*  Christianity  awl  Modem  Thought,  p.  204. 


36  Man  a  Revelauon  of  God. 

tinct  species.  In  recent  years  the  chief  efforts  of 
naturalists  have  been  devoted  to  bridging  the  chasms 
between  species. 

Again  and  again  some  one  has  claimed  success, 
but  invariably  a  little  further  research  has  shown 
it  to  be  illusory,  and  at  the  present  writing  I  am  not 
aware  that  in  a  single  instance  an  individual  of  one 
species  has,  by  the  most  painstaking  care,  been  de- 
veloped or  evolved  until  its  progeny  has  become  an 
individual  of  another  species.  The  excuse  for  failure 
is  now  the  same  that  it  has  been  during  all  the  contro- 
versy ;  namely,  "  lack  of  time  ; "  and  so  there  has  been 
a  constant  and  strenuous  effort  to  push  back  the  date 
of  man's  origin.  This  excuse  possesses  but  little  force, 
however,  for,  passing  back  through  all  the  ages  freely 
granted  them  by  every  Christian  scientist,  in  the  do- 
main of  life  among  lower  animals,  as  shown  in  the 
records  of  geology,  they  succeed  no  better.  There 
was  a  time  when  it  was  feared  by  some  faint-hearted 
believers  that  geology,  with  its  vast  time,  would  re- 
veal such  passage  of  one  species  into  another,  and  so 
unsettle  faith  in  special  creation.  We  do  not  grant 
that  supernatural  intervention  would  be  explained 
away  even  if  this  were  shown.  Tt  would  only  remove 
the  <jreat  First-Cause  a  little  farther  back.  Banish 
Him  it  certainly  would  not.  But  such  has  not  been 
shown.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems  farther  from  it 
mow  than  ten  years,  or  even  twenty  years,  ago.  The 
most  recent  researches  in  the  field  of  geology  promise 


In  His  Origin.  37 

no  such  revelation.  I  ask  attention  to  the  follow- 
ing statements  of  Sir  William  Dawson,  whose  ability 
every-where  commands  respect.     He  says  : 

"Palaeontology  might  be  expected  to  furnish  in 
fossils  connecting  links  between  extinct  and   recent 
species.     On  the  contrary,  however,  it  shows  a  mar- 
velous persistency  of  species  through  vast  periods  of 
geological  time,  and  often  under  diverse  varietal  forms, 
passing  into  each  other;  but  each  species  seems  to 
come  in  without  progenitors  and  to  become  extinct 
without  descendants.  .  .  .  Indeed,  as  new  species  of 
fossils  multiply,  and  new  facts  are  ascertained  as  to 
the  conditions  of  their  introduction  and  disappear- 
ance, the  gradually  diminishing  '  imperfection  of  the 
record '  becomes  less  and  less  available  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  evolutionist.  .  .  .  The  nearest  approach 
to  direct  paloeontological  evidence  is  that  which  has 
been  adduced  by  Huxley  in  England  and  Marsh  in 
this  country,  as  to  the  relations  of  the  modern  and 
tertiary  horses  to  some  similar  animals,  their  prede- 
cessors in  the  middle  and  early  tertiary  periods.     This 
shows,  undoubtedly,  the  introduction  at  successive  pe- 
riods, between  the  beginning  of  the  eocene  tertiary 
and  the  modern,  of  animals  more  and  more  approxi- 
mating to  the  modern  horse.     But  none  of  these  are 
known  to  pass  into  each  other  by  varietal  forms,  and 
the  supposition  that  they  were  produced  by  a  passage 
from   one   to  the   other,   even    if   this  were  granted 
as  possible,  recpiires,  when  striving  to  realize  it,  such 


38  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

a  complicated  combination  of  changes  in  the  animals 
themselves  and  in  their  surroundings  that  it  becomes 
simply  incredible,  except  on  the  supposition  of  inten- 
tional intervention. 

"In  so  far,  then,  as  either  the  origin  of  species  or 
the  origin  of  man  is  concerned,  the  Darwinian  the- 
ory  is  not  entitled  to  rank  as  a  result  of  scientific 
induction.  It  rests  merely  on  analogy,  and  on  its 
power  to  explain  easily  a  great  variety  of  phenom- 
ena, provided  its  premises  are  granted.  In  this  it 
contrasts,  in  a  scientific  point  of  view,  unfavorably 
with  the  old  idea  of  creative  design,  which  undoubt- 
edly rests  on  an  inductive  basis."  * 

The  reader  cannot  fail  to  see  the  cogency  of  this 
reasoning.  Still  more  forceful  to  the  skeptical  reader 
may  appear  the  testimony  of  those  who  are  not  com- 
mitted to  Christianity. 

In  a  paper  read  before  the  "  Philosophical  Society 
of  Great  Britain  "  by  the  celebrated  Dr.  Nicholson,  of 
the  Durham  University  College,  this  whole  subject  is 
most  ably  handled ;  and,  although  he  evidently  has  a 
desire  to  find  a  solution  of  the  mystery  of  life  in  evo- 
lution, he  reaches  the  same  conclusion  that  other  can- 
did investigators  have  reached;  namely,  "Upon  the 
whole,  we  may  conclude  that  palaeontology,  in  its 
present  stage  of  development,  offers  no  strong  sup- 
port or  is  directly  opposed  to  the  special  theory  of 
the  origin  of  species  advocated  by  Mr.  Darwin." 

*  Nature  and  the  Bible,  p.  142. 


In  His  Origin.  39 

Even  by  those  who  would  push  man's  antiquity 
far  back  beyond  the  time  allowed  by  revelation,  and 
so  invalidate  the  Bible  account,  this  theory  is  repu- 
diated. 

Louis  Figuier,  in  a  work  entitled  Primitive  Man, 
takes  strong  ground  for  the  great  antiquity  of  the  hu- 
man race,  and  plainly  indicates  that  he  has  no  disposi- 
tion to  defend  the  Bible  account  of  creation.     Never- 
theless he  says,  concerning  the  descent  of  man  from 
the  ape :    "  We   strongly    repudiate  any  doctrine  of 
this  kind.  .  .  .  Show  me  an  ape  who  can  make  flint 
hatchets  and  arrowheads,  who  can  light  a  fire  and 
cook  his  food ;  who,  in  short,  can  act  like  an  intelligent 
creature— then,  and  then  only,  I  am  ready  to  confess 
that  I  am  nothing  more  than  an  orang-outang  revised 
and  corrected.     Show  me  an  ape  who  can  speak,  and 
then  I  will  agree  with  you  in  recognizing  it  as  a  fact 
that  man  is  nothing  but  an  improved  ape.     In  deal- 
ing with   this  question   in   a   more  general  point  of 
view  we  must  add  that  the  most  enlightened  science 
declares  to  us,  in  unmistakable  accents,  that  species  is 
immutable,  and  that  no  animal  species  can  be  derived 
from  another."  * 

In  another  work  of  equal  merit,  entitled  The 
Human  Race,  he  fully  establishes  the  same  posi- 
tion. 

M.  de  Qnatrefages,  an  illustrious  French  naturalist, 
with  an  evident  bias  against  Christianity  and  all  super- 
*  Primitive  Man,  p.  30. 


40  Man  a  Revelation  fkom  God. 

natural  revelation,  says:  "With  regard  to  the  origin 
of  man  from  the  ape  it  is  nothing  but  pure  hypothe- 
sis, or,  rather,  nothing  but  a  mere  jeu  $  esprit  which 
every  thing  proves  utterly  baseless,  and  in  favor  of 
which  no  solid  fact  has  as  yet  been  appealed  to. 
Science,  therefore,  which  pretends  to  solidity  of 
character  must  put  this  problem  on  one  side.  We 
really  approach  nearer  to  the  truth  when  we  confess 
our  ignorance  than  when  we  attempt  to  disguise  it 
either  to  ourselves  or  to  others." 

The  illustrious  Agassiz,  writing  upon  this  subject 
near  the  close  of  his  life,  and  bringing  to  bear  upon 
it  his  ripest  wisdom,  says :  "  Its  doctrines  contradict 
what  the  animal  forms  buried  in  the  rocky  strata  of 
our  earth  tell  us  of  their  own  introduction  and  suc- 
cession on  the  surface  of  the  globe." 

If  any  further  authority  were  needed  to  establish 
the  unsatisfactoriness  of  this  theory,  we  might  turn  to 
Professor  Calderwood,  of  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh, who,  in  his  Relations  of  Science  and  Relig- 
ion, published  in  18S0,  gives  a  most  discreet  review 
of  the  whole  problem,  bringing  out  the  strongest 
features  of  the  theory,  and  showing  them  up  at 
their  best ;  but  finally  clearly  proving  that  insur- 
mountable difficulties  stand  in  the  way  of  its  accept- 
ance by  true  science. 

But  sufficient  has  already  been  produced.  And  in 
ail  this  the  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  we  have  not 
been    refuting  evolution,  as  such,  because  we  fear  its 


In  His  Origin.  41 

antagonism  to  Christianity.  We  have  simply  been 
showing  its  nnsatisfactoriness  as  an  answer  to  the 
question,  How  did  we  come  to  be?  For,  whatever 
may  in  the  future  be  proven  concerning  the  pro- 
gressive changes  in  organized  existences,  the  neces- 
sity for  a  supernatural  Creator  will  remain  the 
same. 

There  are  other  hypotheses  which  have  been  set 
up  to  solve  the  problem  of  man's  origin,  but  they 
are  equally  unsatisfactory,  and  need  not  claim  our 
attention. 

I  would  not  be  understood  as  in  any  sense  wish- 
ing to  detract  from  the  worth  of  the  work  which 
has  been  done  by  the  great  naturalists  whose  names 
have  been  mentioned,  and  whose  theories  have 
been  found  untenable.  Truth  is  a  grand  unity. 
Facts  are  the  basis  on  which  the  superstructure  of 
truth  must  be  reared.  A  vast  mass  of  facts  has 
been  discovered  by  these  men,  and  we  are  every  one 
of  us  indebted  to  them  for  their  patient  toil.  It  is 
only  with  the  faulty  correlation  of  these  facts,  with 
the  unwarranted  generalizations  from  them,  and  with 
the  entirely  gratuitous  additions  of  supposed  data, 
that  the  careful  man  of  science,  the  genuine  lover 
of  truth,  has  any  controversy.  For  the  facts  we 
say,  "AH  thanks;"  for  the  fancy,  "we  will  none 
of  it." 

I  think  the  reader  will  a^ree  with  me  that,  the  first 


42  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

part  of  the  proposition  with  which  the  chapter  opened 
has  been  sustained  ;  namely,  that  all  the  answers  given 
to  the  question  of  man's  origin  by  those  who  refuse 
to  acknowledge  an  omnipotent  personal  Creator  are 
not  only  unsatisfactory  to  reason,  but  out  of  harmony 
with  facts,  and  wholly  inadequate  to  account  for  the 
result.  If  so,  he  is  prepared  to  enter  upon  the  exam- 
ination of  the  second  part. 

SECTION    SECOND. 

Is  the  answer  given  in  the  book  which  purports  to 
be  a  divine  revelation  in  perfect  harmony  with  all 
ascertained  facts,  as  shown  by  the  most  advanced  sci- 
ence, regarding  man's  origin,  and  is  it  entirely  ade- 
quate to  account  for  the  result?  I  say  ascertained 
facts ;  not  hypothecated  ones,  or  mere  appearances. 

First,  then,  what  is  the  answer  of  the  book?  Turn- 
ing to  Genesis  we  find  it  as  follows:  "And  God  said, 
Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness  : 
and  let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and 
over  all  the  earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  that 
creepeth  upon  the  earth.  And  God  created  man  in 
his  own  image,  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him  ; 
male  and  female  created  he  them." 

We  are  further  informed  by  this  record  that  man 
was  made  on  the  sixth  creative  day. 

According  to  this  answer  he  is  the  most  recent  of 
animal  species,  and,   although  we   are    nowhere    in- 


In  His  Origin.  43 

formed  that  liis  creation  took  place  a  definite  number 
of  years  before  Christ,  yet  the  age  of  man  is  at  least 
approximately  given,  and  the  record  may  justly  be 
held  responsible  for  its  approximate  correctness. 

This  opens  at  once  the  whole  question  of  the  an- 
tiquity of  man.  Failing  to  show  any  conflict  between 
geology  and  Genesis  as  to  the  creation  of  the  inorganic 
universe,  and  all  forms  of  plant  and  lower  animal  life, 
deniers  of  the  truth  of  revelation  have  devoted  their 
best  energies  to  an  endeavor  to  prove  a  vast  antiquity 
for  man,  and  by  so  doing  aim  to  invalidate  the  word, 
and  with  it  the  revelation  of  God  in  man's  origin. 
Have  they  succeeded  ?  Is  the  Bible  account  in  har- 
mony with  ascertained  facts? 

A  complete  answer  to  this  question,  with  a  full 
citation  of  authorities,  would  occupy  more  space  than 
can  possibly  be  given  thereto  in  this  volume ;  but  in 
brief  space  a  sufficient  veiw  of  the  field  can  be  easily 
given,  to  convince  all  candid  inquirers  that  the  ac- 
counts in  the  stony  record,  so  far  as  they  have  been 
deciphered,  correspond  perfectly  with  the  book. 

Attention  is  first  invited  to  a  few  of  tiie  elaborate  at- 
tempts which  geologists,  or  archaeologists,  have  made, 
to  show  that  the  Bible  is  in  error  in  regard  to  mail's 
antiquity  ;  for  although  in  general  the  authors  disclaim 
any  such  attempt,  or  even  desire,  yet  the  disclaimer 
fails  to  deceive  any  careful  reader  as  to  the  manifest 
purpose. 

In  this  inquiry  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 


41  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

question  of  the  earth's  antiquity,  or  the  length  of  the 
Mosaic  day.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  Christian  scientist 
to  know  that  the  verdict  of  all  geologists,  worthy  of 
the  name,  is  in  accord  with  the  general  order  of  the 
Bible  account,  and  that  no  contradiction  is  any  longer 
maintained  ;  that,  from  having  been  supposed  by 
many,  fifty  years  ago,  to  be  in  direct  hostility  to 
Genesis,  Geology  now  takes  her  place  beside  Genesis, 
and  in  unison  of  praise  adores  the  same  Author. 

All  our  investigation  has  reference  to  very  recent 
times,  geologically  speaking,  although  very  ancient 
historically.  Even  those  who  contend  for  the  remot- 
est antiquity  of  man  agree  that  he  was  a  very  late 
geological  specimen. 

Among  these  is  Sir  Charles  Lyell,  whose  name  has 
become  almost  a  household  word  among  students  of 
geology.  His  Principles  and  Elements  are  too  well 
known  to  need  any  statement  here.  As  a  geological 
treatise  the  former  is  an  enduring  monument  and 
worthy  of  all  praise.  Not  so  The  Antiquity  of  Man. 
In  this  he  seems  to  lose  his  bearings  somewhat ;  nev- 
ertheless, he  finally  virtually  concedes  that  he  does 
not  know  any  thing  about  the  date  of  man's  appear- 
ance on  the  earth,  except  that,  geologically  speaking, 
it  was  recent — an  admission  as  great  as  could  be  rea- 
sonably demanded  of  him. 

We  open  the  extensive  work  of  Sir  John  Lubbock 
upon  Prehistoric  Ti?nes,  and  find  in  its  perusal  much 
of  genuine  worth,  and  indications  of  large  research 


In  His  Okigin.  45 

in  his  chosen  field.  He  records  with  great  care  the 
results  of  numerous  examinations  of  fossil  remains  of 
animal  life  in  various  quarters  of  the  earth's  crust,  to- 
gether with  the  remains  of  human  skeletons  and  im- 
plements, which  have  been  found  mingled  with  the 
bones  of  lower  animals.  He  shows  us  a  vast  number 
of  well-authenticated  facts,  and  wins  our  admiration 
both  for  his  learning,  and  his  care  to  present  the  exact 
truth  as  found  in  the  solid  earth  and  in  its  unmistak- 
able treasures.  Thus  he  carries  us  with  him  back  to 
the  very  border-land  of  ascertained  truth,  and  by  his 
candor  of  treatment  secures  a  firm  hold  upon  us  for 
the  inexact  and  unauthenticated  data  which  he  pro- 
ceeds to  make  the  basis  of  wide-reaching  generaliza- 
tions that  have  been  un  question  ingly  accepted  by 
subsequent  writers  on  this  subject.  With  bold  and 
masterful  stroke  he  proceeds  to  map  out  the  prehis- 
toric field  as  confidently  as  though  he  had  been  there 
at  the  time,  and  seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  habits  and 
customs,  the  utensils  and  weapons,  the  rites  and  cere- 
monies, of  those  primeval  cave  and  valley  dwellers. 
Cosmic  changes  which  other  men  scarcely  venture  to 
locate,  even  as  to  their  order  of  sequence  in  the  great 
world-progress,  he  not  only  locates  but  divides  into 
definite  periods  or  "  epochs."  Of  these  epochs  he 
says  there  were  four  : 

"  1.  That  of  the  Drift,  when  man  shared  the 
possession  of  Europe  with  the  mammoth,  the  cave- 
bear,    the    woolly-haired   rhinoceros,   and   other    ex- 


46  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

tinct  animals.  This  we  may  call  the  Paleolithic 
period. 

ki  2.  The  later  or  Polished  Stone  Age  ;  a  period 
characterized  by  beautiful  weapons  and  instruments 
made  of  Hint  and  other  kinds  of  stone.  This  we  may 
call  the  Neolithic  period. 

"  3.  The  Bronze  Age,  in  which  bronze  was  used 
for  arms  and  cutting  instruments  of  all  kinds. 

"  4.  The  Iron  Age,  in  which  that  metal  had  su- 
perseded bronze  for  arms,  axes,  knives,  etc.  ; 
bronze,  however,  still  being  in  common  use  for  or- 
naments.'' * 

Having  thus  mapped  out  prehistoric  time  accord- 
ing to  his  own  liking,  he  proceeds  to  bring  forth  a 
wealth  of  facts  and  incidents,  having  reference  to  these 
epochs,  which  would  seem  to  substantiate  the  whole, 
but  which,  on  more  careful  examination,  are  found  to 
be  exceedingly  uncertain,  and  wholly  unworthy  of  be- 
ing accepted  as  bearing  upon  the  proof.  This,  how- 
ever, has  not  deterred  subsequent  writers  from  basing 
their  conclusions  upon  his  premises  and  considering 
them  absolutely  proven. 

Even  a  cursory  glance  through  the  volumes  on 
anthropology  and  kindred  subjects,  which  have  been 
published  since  Sir  John  Lubbock  gave  to  the  world 
this  treatise,  reveals  the  fact  that  almost  uniformly 
the  writers  accept  him  as  authority ;  and,  having 
quoted   him    or  Sir  Charles    Lyell  upon  any  point, 

*  Prehistoric  Times,  by  Sir  John  Lubbock. 


In  His  Origin.  47 

that  point  is  considered  settled  beyond  all  farther 
controversy. 

Even  the  Encyclopaedia  Uritannica,  which  ought 
to  be  conservative  and  cautious  on  such  ground,  gives 
itself  almost  unreservedly  to  the  upholding  of  these 
theories  : 

"  Geology,  notwithstanding  the  imperfection  of  its 
results,  has  made  it  manifest  that  our  earth  must  have 
been  the  seat  of  vegetable  and  animal  life  for  an  im- 
mense period  of  time ;  while  the  first  appearance  of 
man,  though  comparatively  recent,  is  positively  so 
remote  that  an  estimate  between  twenty  and  a  hun- 
dred thousand  years  may  fairly  be  taken  as  a  mini- 
mum. This  geological  claim  for  a  vast  antiquity 
of  the  human  race  is  supported  by  the  similar  claims 
of  prehistoric  archaeology  and  the  science  of  cult- 
ure, the  evidence  of  all  three  departments  of  in- 
quiry being  intimately  connected  and  in  perfect  har- 
mony." * 

This  is  about  as  clear  a  case  of  special  pleading, 
under  the  guise  of  a  simple  record  of  facts,  as  one 
often  meets.  Surely  the  "  positiveness  "  of  the  evi- 
dence doth  not  yet  appear,  and  as  for  the  "  har- 
mony" between  the  various  departments  of  inquiry, 
we  have  yet  to  find  it  out. 

After  this  sort  of  an  introduction  we  are  fully 
prepared  to  find,  by  reading  on,  that  lie  takes  the 
usual  course  ;  that  is,  quotes  the  statements  of  only 

*  E.  B.  Tyler,  iu  Encyclopaedia  Britannia,  article  "  Anthropology." 


4S  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

those  who  have  been  endeavoring  to  show  a  vast 
antiquity  for  the  human  race,  and  then,  having 
quoted  such,  draws  his  conclusions  therefrom  as  if 
from  proven  data.  But  it  will  be  shown  by  authori- 
ties which  are  above  all  suspicion  of  unfairness,  and 
beyond  refutation,  that  the  data  upon  which  these 
inferences  rest — and  they  every-where  confess  them 
to  be  for  the  most  part  mere  inferences — are  not  well 
authenticated,  and  are,  at  the  best,  very  unworthy  to 
be  made  the  foundation  of  subsequent  reasoning. 

As  a  good  example  of  the  prevailing  uncertainty 
manifest  among  the  very  clearest  and  best  of  this  class 
of  investigators,  the  reader  is  referred  to  a  volume 
published  in  1874  by  W.  Boyd  Dawkins,  entitled  Cave 
11  anting.  Mr.  Dawkins  is  a  scholar  of  very  high 
merit,  and  we  owe  him  a  large  debt  of  gratitude  for 
the  genuine  work  he  has  done,  and  would  by  no  means 
cast  any  reflections  upon  his  candor,  but  simply  in- 
vite attention  to  the  following  passages,  and  leave  the 
reader  to  draw  his  own  conclusions.  After  a  prelim- 
inary survey  of  the  field,  and  a  forcible  presentation 
of  the  case  as  a  whole,  he  says :  *  "  We  must,  there- 
fore, give  up  the  idea  of  measuring  the  past  beyond 
the  memory  of  man,  as  represented  in  historical  doc- 
uments, by  the  historic  unit  of  years.  We  merely 
trace  a  definite  sequence  of  events  separated  one  from 
another  by  uncertain  intervals." 

Then,  after  some  three  hundred  pages  of  elaborate 

*  Page  136. 


In  His  Obigin.  49 

and  skillful  grouping  of  the  records  of  researches  in 
the  various  regions  of  Europe  which  abound  in  the 
remains  of  extinct  species  of  animals  and  rude  stone 
implements,  and  after  some  rather  vigorous  asser- 
tions and  paradoxical  conclusions,  he  says:  "No  re- 
mains have  been  discovered  up  to  the  present  time 
in  any  part  of  Europe  which  can  be  referred  with 
certainty  to  a  higher  antiquity  than  the  pleistocene 
age.  The  paleolithic  people  or  peoples  arrived  in 
Europe  along  with  the  peculiar  fauna  of  that  age, 
and,  after  dwelling  here  for  a  length  of  time  which 
is  to  be  measured  by  the  vast  physical  and  elimat- 
ical  changes  described  in  the  last  three  chapters, 
finally  disappeared,  leaving  behind  as  their  repre- 
sentatives the  Esquimau  tribes  of  Arctic  America. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  they  were  inferior  in  intel- 
lectual capacity  to  many  of  the  lower  races  of  the 
present  time,  or  more  closely  linked  to  the  lower  ani- 
mals. The  traces  which  they  have  left  behind  tell  us 
nothing  as  to  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  doctrine 
of  evolution.  It  must,  indeed,  be  allowed  that  the 
study  of  fossil  remains  throws  as  little  light  as  the 
documents  of  history  on  the  relation  of  man  to  the 
lower  animals.  The  historian  commences  his  labors 
with  the  high  civilization  of  Assyria  and  Egypt,  and 
can  merely  guess  at  the  steps  by  which  it  was 
achieved ;  the  paleontologist  meets  with  the  traces 
of  man  in  the  pleistocene  strata,  and  he,  too,  can 
merely  guess  at  the  antecedent  steps  by  which  man 


50  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

arrived  even  at  that  culture  which  is  implied  by  the 
implements.  The  Litter  has  proved  that  the  antiq- 
uity of  man  is  greater  than  the  former  had  supposed. 
Neither  has  contributed  any  thing  toward  the  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  of  his  origin."  * 

There  are  several  other  treatises  upon  this  subject 
by  eminent  English  scholars  which  it  has  been  a 
pleasure  to  read,  and  I  have  been  strongly  impressed 
by  the  great  unanimity  of  their  decisions  that  man 
is  a  "  very  ancient"  animal,  notwithstanding  the 
extremely  diversified  methods  by  which  they  reach 
them,  and  their  flat  self-contradictions  in  many  essen- 
tial particulars.  As,  for  example,  Edward  T.  Ste- 
vens, F.R.S.,  in  Flint  Chips,  a  Guide  to  Prehistoric 
Archaeology,  reaches  the  same  general  conclusion 
as  Sir  John  Lubbock,  Dawkins,  Tyler,  Prestwich, 
Tournal,  Jones,  and  Evans,  but  cannot  agree  with 
them  at  all  on  certain  points  which  would  seem  to 
be  vital  to  any  established  reasoning. 

The  great  work  by  John  Evans,  F.E.S.,  published 
in  1ST2,  entitled  The  Ancient  Stone  Implements, 
Weapons,  and  Ornaments  of  Great  Britain,  is  the 
most  pronounced  of  its  class.  It  comprises  upwards 
of  six  hundred  large,  closely  printed  pages,  and  exam- 
ines in  detail  almost  every  discovery  or  locality  which, 
in  any  way,  seems  to  indicate  a  remote  antiquity  for 
man.  lie  seems  not  to  see  the  objections  to  his  the- 
ory which  lie  all  around  him  in  the  same  localities. 
*  Cave  Hunting,  by  W\  Boyd  Dawkins,  F.R.S.,  p.  436. 


In  His  Okigin.  51 

He  grows. enthusiastic,  and  almost  poetical — I  will  not 
say  visionary — over  the  wondrous  old  implements  of 
the  various  "ages"  and  the  prehistoric  dwellers  in 
the  unearthed  eaves  and  cities,  and  closes  the  whole 
by  saying: 

"  The  mind  is  almost  lost  in  amazement  at  the  vista 
of  antiquity  displayed.  So  fully  must  this  be  felt 
that  it  is  impossible  not  to  sympathize  with  those  who, 
from  sheer  inability  to  carry  their  vision  so  far  back 
into  the  dim  past,  and  from  unconsciousness  of  the  co- 
gency of  other  and  distinct  evidence  as  to  the  remote- 
ness of  the  origin  of  the  human  race,  are  unwilling  to 
believe  in  so  vast  an  antiquity  for  man  as  must  of  ne- 
cessity be  conceded  by  those  who,  however  feebly  they 
may  make  their  thoughts  known  to  others,  have  fully 
and  fairly  weighed  the  facts  which  modern  discoveries 
have  unrolled  before  their  eyes." 

This  is  certainly  good  rhetoric  and  pleasing  fancy 
to  place  at  the  close  of  a  scientific  treatise.  At  the 
same  time  it  stands  as  a  refreshing  confession  of 
imaginative  hypotheses  rather  than  scientific  calcu- 
lation, and  need  not  stagger  the  faith  of  any  child 
of  God  in  the  divine  authorship  of  Genesis.  His 
"sympathy"  for  those  of  us  who  are  "  unable  to  carry 
our  vision  so  far  back  into  the  dim  past"  is  received 
with  all  thanks ;  but,  not  having  any  need  thereof,  we 
return  it  to  those  who,  like  this  zealous  digger  in  the 
prehistoric  caves  of  mother  earth,  are  ever  groping 
backward  in  the  darkness  and  finding  only  contradic- 


52  Man  a  Eev elation  of  God, 

tions  of  one  another's  theories,  and  an  endless  break- 
ing  up  of  visionary  hypotheses,  instead  of  facing  about 
toward  the  clear  light  of  revelation  and  beholding  the 
wondrous  harmony  of  the  stone-written,  bronze-writ- 
ten, iron-written  testimonies  with  the  testimonies  re- 
corded by  Moses. 

But  we  will  not  prejudge  the  case,  neither  will  we 
hold  up  these  highly  imaginative  conclusions  to  ridi- 
cule. Leave  scoffing  to  the  opponents  of  Christianity. 
It  is  no  part  of  argument,  and  unworthy  the  genuine 
inquirer  after  truth. 

It  is  well  that,  during  all  these  years  of  intense  ac- 
tivity in  searching  out  the  records  of  the  past,  as  they 
appear  in  the  hoarded  stores  of  the  famous  European 
caves,  valley  gravels,  lake  dwellings,  and  drift  depos- 
its generally,  Christian  scholars  have  by  no  means 
stood  aloof  or  taken  second  rank.  The  time  was  when 
there  seemed  quite  a  strong  inclination  in  this  direc- 
tion, and  a  decided  disposition  to  frown  upon  the 
rapid  advances  of  science.  Faint-hearted  believers  in 
general,  and  lazy,  half-educated  theological  professors, 
who  had  been  living  in  a  past  age  for  thirty  years, 
together  with  preachers  of  the  same  stamp,  in  par- 
ticular, were  horrified  at  the  inroads  of  what  seemed 
a  godless  culture,  and  called  loudly  upon  all  true 
Christians  to  stay  the  approach  of  the  iconoclastic 
hordes  who  threatened  to  destroy  the  Bible  ■  and  all 
things  sacred ;  when,  in  reality,  the  only  permanent 
tendency  was  to  destroy  some  of  their  erroneous  dog- 


In  His  Origin.  53 

mas,  which  the  Bible  never  sanctioned,  and  cause  them 
the  insufferable  labor  of  re-writing  some  of  their  lect- 
ures and  sermons.  This  time  soon  passed  away. 
Those  obstructionists  who  would  neither  get  out  of 
the  way  of  Progress  nor  advance  with  her  were  un- 
ceremoniously pushed  aside,  and  left  to  whine  over 
the  "  irreverence  of  hasty  conclusions,"  while  earnest 
seekers  after  all  available  light  upon  the  great  prob- 
lems with  which  we  have  to  deal  eagerly  took  up  the 
work  of  exploration  and  excavation,  deciphering  and 
interpretation,  and  have  brought  forth  such  rich  and 
manifold  results,  during  all  these  recent  years,  that  to- 
day the  Christian  world  stands  in  grateful  and  ever- 
increasing  astonishment  before  the  surprising  verifi- 
cations of  Bible  history  and  prophecy,  and  even  chron- 
ology in  general.  Proportionately  depressed  are  the 
skeptical  investigators,  who  were  formerly  so  jubilant, 
but  who  now  with  almost  every  series  of  new  devel- 
opments see  their  assumed  facts  vanishing  into  airy 
phantoms,  while  that  humble  old  Mosaic  record,  which 
has  been  a  target  for  their  scorn  and  ridicule,  contin- 
ually takes  on  new  features  of  beauty,  strength,  and 
forcefulness.  It  will  not  be  possible  for  me  to  lay 
before  my  readers  in  detail  these  gratifying  and  con- 
clusive results,  but  we  may  glance  at  a  few  of  the 
more  significant. 

I  invite  attention  first  to  the  uncertainty  of  all  their 
calculations  based  upon  the  much-talked-of  stone  and 
bronze   implements  and  the  various   "finds"  in  the 


54:  Man  a  Kevelatiox  of  God. 

caves  and  valley  gravels.  This  uncertainty  arises 
largely  from  the  exceeding  great  difficulty— nay,  the 
utter  impossibility— of  accurately  making  out  the 
geologic  record  .of  the  times  just  preceding  and  im- 
mediately following  the  Glacial  epoch.  This  epoch 
seems  to  stand  like  a  mountain  of  ice  obstructing  every 
approach  to  certainty.  All  careful  investigators  are 
fully  agreed  that,  geologically  speaking,  man  is  of  re- 
cent origin — that  his  advent  belongs  somewhere  in 
the  later  Tertiary  period.  But  where  ?  The  geolo- 
gist who  commences  at  the  Azoic  rocks,  and  traces  the 
earth's  building  through  the  untold  ages  of  paleozoic 
time  in  regular  and  undisputed  sequence  of  the  Silu- 
rian, Devonian,  and  Carboniferous  ages,  and  on  with 
equal  confidence  and  certainty  up  through  the  Trias- 
sic,  Jurassic,  and  Cretaceous  periods  of  Mesozoic  time, 
entering  with  assurance  upon  Cenozoic  time,  soon  finds, 
toward  the  close  of  the  Tertiary  period,  evidences  of 
great  earth  disturbances  which  seriously  "disturb" 
his  reckoning.  The  regular  succession  of  deposits 
and  strata  is  completely  broken  up.  He  searches  in 
vain  throughout  every  accessible  portion  of  the  earth's 
crust  to  find  some  spot  where  the  rocky  pages  of  this 
wondrous  book  have  not  been  tilted,  and  broken,  and 
furrowed,  and  crushed,  beyond  recognition  ;  nay,  even 
been  ground  into  dust  and  pebbles,  and  scattered  from 
Siberia  to  the  Gulf,  and  from  continental  center  to 
ocean  shores.  Failing  to  find  any  place  not  thus 
broken  up,  he   makes  the  best  of  it  by  selecting  a 


In  His  Origin.  55 

place  here  and  there  where  may  be  found  a  few  par- 
agraphs, or  pieces  of  a  page  intact,  and  goes  to  work 
to  reconstruct  the  record.  Before  the  Glacial  epoch 
set  in,  our  earth  had  attained  her  full  proportions,  and 
abounded  in  a  most  luxuriant  vegetation  and  a  wealth 
of  animal  life  almost  exceeding  comprehension.  This 
is  plainly  indicated  in  many  unmistakable  remains. 
The  climate  was  mild,  and  every  thing  seemed  to 
conduce  to  gigantic  growth  in  animal  forms,  and  co- 
lossal size  in  plants  and  trees.  But  there  are  no  indi- 
cations that  human  eyes  ever  saw  any  of  them  in  life. 
At  the  close  of  the  Pliocene  the  climatic  conditions 
were  wholly  changed.  Rigorous  cold  supervened  upon 
spring-like  mildness.  The  great  land  continents  sank 
and  were  partially  submerged.  Immense  fields  of 
snow  and  ice  accumulated  upon  all  the  northern  por- 
tions of  the  earth  which  were  not  beneath  the  seas. 
The  desolation  of  an  Arctic  winter  settled  like  a  pall 
upon  a  large  part  of  what  was  before  teeming  with 
life.  Millions  of  dead  animals  of  various  species  were 
frozen  in  the  ice  or  buried  in  the  snow. 

Glaciers  of  all  sizes  began  moving  down  the  steep 
declivities,  carrying  with  them  their  mountain-like 
heaps  of  earth,  and  plant  and  animal  accumulations. 
In  their  course  they  plowed  gorges,  filled  up  valleys, 
and  leveled  hills,  taking  up  or  laying  down  material  as 
the  mighty  forces  of  the  onward  movement  required. 
How  long  this  continued  no  search  has  yet  revealed ; 
doubtless  for  many  thousands  of  years.    Ultimately  the 


56  .Max  a  Revelation  of  (Jon. 

land  again  began  to  rise,  and  the  continents  to  take  their 
former  place,  though  they  seem  not  yet  to  have  fully 
reached  their  Pliocene  dimensions.  With  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  land  came  again  a  milder  climate ;  copious 
rains  fell,  and  immense  rivers  ran  seaward,  every 
tributary  carrying  down  remains  of  the  previous 
destruction.  Any  reader,  even  the  one  unaccustomed 
to  the  details  of  geology,  can  readily  see  how,  in 
such  a  disturbance  as  this — in  such  a  profound  break- 
ing up  of  all  things,  in  such  a  subsidence  of  the 
earth's  surface  and  subsequent  upheaval  —  there 
would'  be  a  very  general  shuffling  about  of  all  re- 
mains. Skeletons  of  water  animals  would  be  left  on 
hill-tops,  while  mountain  climbers  would  be  carried 
into  deep  marshes,  and  remains  of  species  which 
never  approached  each  other  in  life  would  be  pro- 
miscuously mingled. 

Seeing  this,  he  will  understand  how  uncertain  are 
the  data  on  which  some  scientific  men  so  dogmatic- 
ally pronounce.  Then,  too,  he  must  take  into  the 
account  that  this  uncertainty  increases  as  we  enter  the 
Post-glacial  or  Modern  epoch,  where  we  first  find 
evidences  of  man's  existence,  and  where  so  much  de- 
pends upon  accuracy  of  details  and  certainty  of  data. 
Only  limited  portions  of  Europe  and  a  small  section 
of  eastern  America  afford  any  satisfactory  working- 
ground.  The  stone  implements  and  weapons  so  much 
depended  upon,  mixed  up  with  human  and  animal 
remains  deposited  in  caves  and  valley  graves,  while 


In  His  Origin.  57 

of  absorbing  interest,  and  well  worthy  the  most  pains- 
taking search,  can  hardly  be  depended  on  to  make 
up  a  chronology  worthy  to  be  called  scientific. 

But,  lest  I  should  seem  to  unwarrantably  depreciate 
the  character  of  evidence  upon  which  so  many  emi- 
nent men  have  posited  weighty  treatises,  I  will  here 
quote  Sir  William  Dawson,  whose  right  to  speak 
with  authority  on  this  topic  cannot  be  controverted. 
In  view  of  the  fundamental  importance  of  the  ques- 
tions involved,  several  of  his  paragraphs  must  be 
given : 

uWe  may,  in  this  investigation,  limit  ourselves   to 
the  consideration  of  the  earliest  or  paleocosmic  men  ; 
and   the    two    main    points  with   reference   to   them 
embraced  in  our  present  subject  are  their  antiquity 
and   their  relation   to   modern  races  of   men.     With 
respect  to  the  first  point,  we  shall  find  that  little  cer- 
tainty   as    to   their   absolute   date   can    be    attained, 
except  that  they  are  geologically  very  modern  and 
historically   very  ancient;   and,  with    respect  to  the 
second/that  they   are  closely   allied  to    that  race  of 
men  which  in  historic  times  has  been  the  most  widely 
spread  of  any.     As  these  men  are  prehistoric,  we  can 
have,  with  respect  to  their  antiquity,  only  geological 
evidence,  and  this  resolves  itself  into  the  calculation 
of  the  rate  of  erosion  of  river  valleys,  of  deposition 
of  gravels  and  cave-earths,  and  of  formation  of  stal- 
agmite crusts,  all  of    which    are  so  variable  and  un- 
certain    that,    though    it    may    be   said    that    an    im- 
3* 


58  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

pression  of  great  antiquity  beyond  the  time  of  re- 
ceived history  has  been  left  on  the  minds  of  geolo- 
gists, no  absolute  antiquity  has  been  proved ;  and 
while  some,  on  such  evidence,  would  stretch  the  an- 
tiquity of  man  to  even  half  a  million  of  years,  the 
oldest  of  these  remains  may,  after  all,  not  exceed  our 
traditional  six  thousand.  With  reference,  for  exam- 
ple, to  the  erosion  of  river  valleys  in  western  Europe, 
it  can  be  shown  that  this  probably  belongs  to  a  much 
earlier  period  than  that  of  man,  and  that  old  valleys, 
filled  with  debris  during  the  glacial  period,  could  be 
scoured  out  in  no  great  lapse  of  time,  especially  if 
the  early  modern  period  was,  as  some  suppose,  a  time 
of  excessive  rainfall.  With  reference  to  the  growth 
of  stalagmite  in  caves,  recent  observations  show  that 
this  may  have  been  much  more  rapid  than  has  been 
supposed,  and  that  its  rate  now  is  no  measure  for  that 
which  may  have  prevailed  at  an  earlier  period  and  in 
a  forest-clad  region. 

"With  reference  to  the  elevations  and  subsidences 
which  have  occurred,  we  have  no  measure  of  time  to 
apply  to  them  ;  and  the  question  is  not  yet  settled 
whether  they  were  of  a  slow  and  gradual  nature  like 
some  now  in  progress,  or  whether,  like  others  that 
have  occurred  in  connection  with  earthquakes,  they 
may  have  been  rapid  and  cataclysmal.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  turn  to  the  evidence  afforded  by  the 
extinction  of  animals,  we  know  that  the  reindeer  and 
the  aurochs  existed  in  Europe  up  to  the   time  of  the 


In   His  Origin.  50 

Romans,  and  the  great  Irish  deer  up  to  the  time  of 
modern  peat-bogs.  And  we  have  no  good  evidence 
that  the  mammoth  and  cave  bear  and  woolly  rhi- 
noceros may  not  have  lived  up  to  the  time  when 
men  of  the  Biblical  antediluvian  period  first  mi- 
grated into  Europe.  Nor  have  we  any  good  evi- 
dence as  yet  whether  their  extinction  was  gradual 
or  comparatively  sudden,  or  whether  man  himself 
may  not  have  had  some  connection  with  their  disap- 
pearance." * 

The  same  learned  author,  in  his  latest  work,  says: 
"  The  testimony  of  the  earth  coincides  with  that  of 
the  Bible,  in  representing  man  as  the  latest  member 
of  the  animal  kingdom,  the  last  born  of  animals. 
The  most  important  point  with  reference  to  any  par- 
allelism between  the  geological  history  of  man  and 
the  Biblical  record,  is  to  ascertain  what  absolute 
value  in  time  can.  be  assigned  to  the  several  ages 
known  as  post-glacial  and  recent,  or,  in  other  words, 
how  long  ago  it  is  since  the  glacial  period  terminated. 
So  vague  are  the  data  for  any  calculation  of  this  kind 
that  the  estimates  of  the  date  of  the  glacial  period  have 
ranged  from  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  down  to 
a  very  few  thousand.  The  tendency  of  recent  in- 
vestigations has  been  to  discard  the  higher  estimates, 
and  to  bring  the  close  of  the  glacial  age  constantly 
nearer  to  the  present  time.  The  absence  of  any 
change  in  invertebrate  life,  the  small  amount  of 
*  Nature  and  the  Bible,  bv  Sir  William  Dawson,  F.R.S..  p.  159. 


60  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

erosion  that  has  occurred  since  the  glacial  age,  and 
many  other  considerations,  have  been  tending  in  this 
direction. 

"I  may  refer  to  only  one  criterion,  the  importance 
and  availability  of  which  were  long  ago  recognized 
by  Sir  Charles  Lyell.  This  is  the  recession  of  the 
Falls  of  Niagara  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Ontario  to 
their  present  position.  This  recession  is  effected  by 
the  cutting  back  of  beds  of  limestone  and  shale  ;  and 
the  resulting  gorge,  about  seven  miles  in  length,  cuts 
through  the  deposits  of  the  glacial  period,  proving, 
what  on  other  grounds  would  be  obvious,  that  the 
cutting  began  immediately  after  the  glacial  age. 

"  When  Lyell  estimated  the  time  required,  the  rate 
of  recession  of  the  fall  was  supposed  to  be  one  foot 
per  annum.  It  is  found,  however,  by  the  results  of 
actual  surveys,  to  be  three  feet  annually.  Lyell's  esti- 
mate of  the  time  required  was  thirty  thousand  years. 
Tiie  new  measurements  reduce  this  to  one  third, 
and  further  abatements  are  required  by  the  possibly 
easier  cutting  of  the  first  part  of  the  gorge,  by  the 
fact  that  a  portion  of  it  of  uncertain  amount  above 
the  "  whirlpool  "  had  been  cut  at  an  earlier  period  and 
needed  only  to  be  cleared  out,  and  by  the  probability 
that  in  the  early  post-glacial  period  there  was  more 
water  in  the  Niagara  River  than  at  present.  We 
thus  have  physical  proof  that  the  close  of  the  sub- 
mergence and  re  elevation  of  the  American  land  could 
not  have  occurred  more  than   about  eight  thousand 


In  His  Origin.  61 

years  a<m  It  follows  tliat  the  ordinarily  received 
chronologv,  of  about  four  or  five  thousand  years  for 
the  post-diluvian  period,  and  two  thousand  or  a  little 
more  for  the  antediluvian  period,  will  exhaust  all  the 
time  that  geology  can  allow  for  the  possible  existence 
of  man,  at  least  in  the  temperate  regions  of  the  north- 
ern hemisphere.  Facts  recently  ascertained  with  ref- 
erence to  the  delta  of  the  Nile  lead  to  similar  conclu- 
sions for  the  oldest  seats  of  human  civilization. 

"Whatever  demands  may  be  made  by  philologists, 
historians;  or  antiquaries,  or  by  the  necessities  of  the- 
ories of  evolution,  must  now  be  kept  within  the 
limits  of  facts  such  as  those  above  referred  to,  and 
which  are  furnished  to  us  by  physical  geography  and 

geology. 

"These  facts  must  also  lead  to  considerable  revision 
of  the  excessive  umformitarianism  of  one  school  of 
English  geologists,  and  to  explanations  more  reason- 
able than  some  which  have  been  current  as  to  the 
deposition  and  age  of  superficial  gravels  and  other 
similar  deposits.  When  all  these  points  have  been 
adjusted  it  will  be  found  that  there  is  a  sufficiently 
precise  accordance  between  science  and  Bible  history 
with  regard  to  the   antiquity  and   early  history  ot 

man."* 

Here  we  have  the  testimony  of  one  of  the  most  ac- 
curate, and  at  the  same,  time  one  of  the  most  enthu- 
siastic geologists,  who  has  won  for  himself  a  place  of 
*  Point,  of  Contact  Between  Revelation  and  Natural  Science,  p.  20,  seq. 


C,2  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

great  eminence  solely  on  his  merits,  and  speaks  with 
authority  upon  any  question  pertaining  to  fossil  re- 
mains, drift  deposits,  valley  erosions,  and  kindred  sub- 
jects. But  he  is  only  one  of  many  who  have  reached 
the  same  conclusion.  'The  facts  are  rapidly  ranging 
themselves  all  on  this  side.  What  once  seemed  to 
support  the  theory  of  man's  great  antiquity  is  found 
to  directly  oppose  it,  or  at  least  to  lend  it  no  further 
aid. 

In  regard  to  this  whole  subject  of  the  various 
"ages" — stone,  bronze,  and  iron — into  which  writers 
on  the  antiquity  of  man  so  confidently  divide  the 
post-glacial  period,  or  prehistoric  time  back  to  the 
origin  of  man,  there  can  be  no  possible  approximation, 
even,  to  certainty.  It  is  almost  ludicrous  to  read  an 
elaborate  argument  of  a  celebrated  anthropologist,  un- 
dertaking to  convince  us  that  he  can  not  only  deter- 
mine absolutely  these  several  ages  by  looking  at  the 
various  deposits,  but  that  he  can  invariably  make  out 
the  difference  between  implements  of  the  paleolithic 
and  the  neolithic.  Wonderful  accuracy  indeed  !  As- 
tonishing skill  derived  from  "  constant  investigations 
for  many  years !  " 

The  ludicrousness  of  such  pretensions  appears,  when 
we  consider  that  not  only  was  the  earth's  crust  left  by 
the  glacial  upheavals,  subsidences,  and  erosions  in  a 
most  chaotic  state,  but  the  use  of  stone,  bronze,  and 
iron  for  implements  and  weapons  was  continued 
through  many  succeeding  centuries.     In  other  words, 


In  His  Origin.  63 

these  ages  overlap  and  intermingle  in  such  a  manner 
that  they  teach  us  little  concerning  even  the  compara- 
tive antiquity  of  any  "find"  to  prove  that  it  belongs 
to  one  of  these  "  ages."     Of  course,  it  is  eminently 
proper  to  speak  of  a  period  in  the  history  of  any  peo- 
ple during  which  stone  was  chiefly  used  for  imple- 
ments and  weapons  as  the  "  stone  age,"  and  of  a  pe- 
riod when  bronze  was  used  as  the  "  bronze  age  ;"  and 
we  cheerfully  adopt  the  phraseology,  finding  it  very 
convenient  for  a  general  designation.     But,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  there  are  no  such  exclusive  "  periods." 
This  is  incontestable  proven  in  many  ways.    No  mat- 
ter whether  we  search  among  the  Megalithic  monu- 
ments,   bone   caves,   tumuli,   and    lake   dwellings,  or 
elsewhere  amid  the  remains  of  primitive  man  and  his 
associates,  we  find  that  not  only  did  the  use  of  stone 
implements  and  weapons  in  some  countries  continue 
long  after  bronze  and  iron  were  introduced,  but  that 
after  bronze  and  iron  were  in  common  use  by  certain 
peoples,  and  stone  implements  discarded,  other  peo- 
ples were  still  confined  almost  exclusively  to  stone. 

Any  student  of  the  ancient  history  of  Greece  and 
Home  finds  ample  confirmation  of  this  statement, 
while,  if  he  look  into  the  history  of  ancient  Egypt, 
China,  and  Japan,  it  is  even  more  evidently  true. 
Dr.  Philip  Smith,  in  his  Ancient  History  of  the  East, 
gives  such  a  mass  of  facts  bearing  upon  all  phases  of 
this  subject  that  I  would  earnestly  recommend  every 
one  to   procure  the   book  and  carefully  read  it.     On 


64  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

this  particular  point  lie  says :  "  Hatchets,  arrow-heads, 
knives,  and  other  implements,  both  of  flint  and  bronze, 
nails  and  fish-hooks  of  the  same  metal,  leaden  pipes 
and  jars,  armlets,  bracelets,  and  finger  rings  of  iron 
were  not  uncommonly  found  mixed  up  together  in  a 
way  plainly  indicating  that  they  were  used  by  the 
same  people  in  the  same  age."  * 

Even  some  of  the  authors  who  contend  most 
strongly  for  the  immeasurable  antiquity  of  man,  and 
who  base  their  conclusions  largely  upon  the  great 
length  and  definite  mapping  out  of  these  much-talked- 
of  "  ages,"  are  constrained  to  admit  the  fact  of  their 
overlapping  and  in-running.  Mr.  Edward  T.  Ste- 
vens, to  whom  the  reader  has  already  been  introduced, 
is  a  good  example.  Led  by  his  own  reasoning, 
wherein  he  has  declared  over  and  over  again  the  al- 
most incomprehensible  antiquity  of  the  stone  age,  he 
is  nevertheless  compelled  to  admit  that  "  implements 
resembling  in  form  some  of  the  European  paleolithic 
types  were  made  by  the  aborigines  of  America  at  a 
comparatively  late  period,  and  that  the  people  usu- 
ally termed  the  'mound-builders,'  were  probably  the 
makers  of  these  implements."  f 

A  most  important  admission  indeed  for  Mr.  Ste- 
vens to  make!  The  same  conclusion  has  been  arrived 
at  with  regard  to  these  and  many  other  collections  of 
stone  implements  ;  and  they  establish  beyond  question 

*  Ancient  History  of  the  East,  by  Philip  Smith,  B.A.,  p.  375. 
f  Flint  Chips,  by  Edward  T.  Stevens. 


In  His  Origin.  05 

that  not  only  is  the  stone  age  not  tens  of  thousands  of 
years  old,  but  that  it  is  not  necessarily  six  thousand 
years  old.  When  we  critically  examine  their  elaborate 
deliverances  concerning  the  bronze  age  the  case  ap- 
pears still  worse  for  them.  After  much  good  argu- 
ment and  many  important  conclusions  have  been 
based  upon  its  revelations,  we  often  fail  to  clearly 
make  out  even  its  existence,  much  less  its  history. 

Another  common  source  resorted  to,  to  prove  the 
great  antiquity  of  man,  is  the  peat  as  it  is  found  de- 
posited in   various  localities.     With   special  care  has 
the   peat  in  England,' Ireland,  France,  and  Denmark 
been  examined  by  many  archaeologists.     The  method 
of  calculation  is  obvious  to  every  reader.     Peat  is  of 
vegetable  origin.     As  it  lies  in  the  lowlands  of  these 
countries,  its  depth  can  be  easily  measured.    As  easily 
can  its  composition  be  clearly  determined.     Only  the 
requisite  amount   of  time  and  care    is  necessary   to 
ascertain  exactly  what  vestiges  of  a  previous  civiliza- 
tion, or  of  prehistoric  life,  are  herein  preserved.     At 
various  depths  there  have  been  found,  in  great  abun- 
dance, the  stone,  bronze,  and   iron  implements  and 
weapons  characteristic  of  these  "  ages,"  and   also  re- 
mains of  man  and  the  lower  animals.     To  determine 
the  age  of  any  particular  article  or  fossil,  it  was  only 
necessary  to  ascertain  how  many  years  the  superin- 
cumbent  peat  had  been  in   forming.     The  problem 
seemed  a  simple  one,  and  was  quickly  solved  by  such 
men  as  Lyell,  Lubbock,  Tattle,  and  others,  who  as- 


GQ  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

serted  confidently  that  many  thousands  of  years  were 
certainly  required  for  its  deposition.  Sir  John  Lub- 
bock said  7,000  years,  M.  Boucher  de  Perthes  30,000 
years,  Mr.  Hudson  Tuttle  120,000  years.  These 
being  famous  men,  their  calculations  were  readily 
accepted  by  all  skeptics,  and  jubilantly  proclaimed 
by  a  host  of  admiring  infidels. 

"  Human  remains  in  the  Danish  peat  at  least  20,000 
years  old;"  "Implements  of  stone  surely  manufact- 
ured by  man,  buried  in  peat  that  is' certainly  21,000 
years  old  ; "  "  Unmistakable  evidences  of  man's  exist- 
ence on  the  earth  100,000  years  ago  at  least,"  and 
other  such  like  expressions,  were  enthusiastically 
reiterated,  and  applauded  to  the  echo  in  popular 
assemblies.  "  Moses  behind  the  times  by  20,000 
years  ; "  "  Multiply  your  Bible  chronology  by  ten,  and 
then  you  are  too  fresh!"  "What  do  you  want  with 
that  old  book  any  way?"  and  kindred  slurs  and  flings 
were  freely  indulged  in.  Half-hearted  Christians 
stood  aghast.  Even  brave  hearts  trembled.  Trem- 
blingly, yet  vigorously,  they  went  to  work.  What 
was  the  result?  The  first,  and  a  very  important  one, 
was  the  proof  that  the  much-talked-of  "periods"  in 
the  peat  formation,  which  it  had  been  asserted  could 
be  so  clearly  made  out  as,  first,  the  "  pine-forest  pe- 
riod," second,  the  "oak-forest  period,"  and  third, 
the  "  beech-forest  period,'"  were  merely  fictitious  divis- 
ions, and  that  all  these  were  largely  contempora- 
neous. 


In  His  Origin.  67 

This  alone  brings  to  naught  much  of  the  beautiful 
rhetoric  which  has  been  displayed  in  endeavoring  to 
show  how  the  various  "periods"  of  the  peat  and  the 
various  "ages"  of  implements  and  weapons  substan- 
tiated each  other's  claims  to  "vast  antiquity."  Not 
only  have  these  periods,  which  were  so  confidently 
claimed  to  be  successive,  been  proved,  by  the  clearest 
possible  evidence,  to  be  contemporaneous,  but  out  of 
the  same  layer  of  that  peat  in  Ireland  have  been  dug 
up  the  well-preserved  remains  of  warriors  still  clad 
in  their  metallic  armor,  and  having  upon  their  flesh- 
less  shoulders  the  gold  epaulets  of  comparatively 
recent  years.  All  around  them,  on  the  same  level, 
were  found  arrow-heads  of  stone  in  abundance  and  a 
number  of  bronze  battle-axes. 

"Amazing,"  "mind-wearying"  antiquity  indeed! 
wherein  we  find  sturdy  warriors  whose  insignia  stamp 
them  as  belonging  to  the  Christian  era.  "  Moses  is 
certainly  out  of  date,"  for  peat  has  formed  twenty 
feet  deep  over  sure  indications  of  human  life,  and 
"twenty  feet  deep  means  at  least  sixteen  thousand 
years!"  But,  hold!  Here  we  have  a  coin  found 
thirty  feet  down  in  the  same  bog.  According  to 
similar  "  unmistakable  calculations"  it  must  be  twenty- 
four  thousand  years  old !  And,  doubtless,  some  were 
just  getting  ready  to  proclaim  as  a  fact  that  man  had 
not  only  been  on  the  earth  twenty-four  thousand 
years,  but  enough  longer  than  that  to  have  learned 
the  use  of  money  before  that  date.      But,  alas  !  after 


OS  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

rubbing  off  the  dirt,  behold  !  there,  in  plain  charac- 
ters, was  the  stamp  of  the  Emperor  Gordian,  237  A.  D. 

Men  scarcely  believed  their  own  eyes  for  a  time. 
But  other  confirmations  of  the  folly  of  these  fabu- 
lous thousands  of  years  were  rapidly  forthcoming. 
A  body  clad  in  woolen  garments  was  found  at  a  depth 
of  six  feet.  The  same  calculations  would  make  this 
body  nearly  five  thousand  years  old  ;  but  it  was  easily 
identified  as  having  lived  not  more  than  four  hundred 
years  ago  at  the  longest. 

It  is  repeatedly  and  positively  affirmed  that  a  depth 
of  fifteen  feet  of  this  deposit  carries  us  back  to  the 
stone  age,  thousands  of  years  beyond  the  remotest 
possible  Bible  chronology.  But  let  us  see.  Down 
eighteen  feet  were  found  coins  of  Edward  IV.,  1-180 
A.D.  Did  Edward  IV.  reign  in  the  Neolithic  age  ? 
Let  those  who  adopt  these  calculations,  or  accept  the 
conclusions  drawn  therefrom,  either  answer  yes  or 
cease  to  quote  any  thing  so  ridiculously  absurd. 

Leaving  now  these  remains  of  prehistoric  man  and 
these  interesting  implements  and  relics,  all  of  which 
a  true  science  of  archaeology  ranges  on  the  side  of  re- 
vealed truth,  and  finds  to  be  in  perfect  harmony  with 
the  Bible  as  far  as  their  meanings  have  been  accu- 
rately traced,  I  invite  attention  briefly  to  works  of  an- 
cient art,  inscriptions,  and  hieroglyphics,  as  bearing 
upon  the  antiquity  of  man. 

This  department  of  research  has  occupied  much 
attention    during    the  whole  of  the  present  century, 


In  His  Origin.  60 

but  especially  for  the  last  twenty  years.  The  re- 
views, journals,  and  quarterlies  of  this  and  other 
lands  have  been,  and  are  now,  literally  burdened  with 
the  records  of  searches  and  decipherings,  while  large 
and  costly  volumes  issue  from  the  press  with  such 
frequency  that  it  is  absolutely  impossible  for  the 
general  student  to  read  the  tenth  part  of  them. 
Enough  may  be  examined,  however,  to  give  one  an 
acquaintance  with  the  fully  ascertained  facts,  and  this 
is  all  that  is  generally  desirable.  Away  back  in 
the  beginning  of  the  century  there  wTas  much  stir 
over  certain  ancient  zodiacs.  The  period  was  one 
of  peculiar  unrest  in  the  religious  world.  A  few 
of  the  most  able  journals  were  ranged  defiantly 
against  the  Bible,  notably  the  Edinburgh  Review. 
The  student  who  wishes  to  get  the  strongest  putting 
of  skeptical  arguments  during  the  first  half  of  this 
century  will  do  well  to  consult  its  files.  Then,  hav- 
ing before  his  eyes  skepticism's  "  best,"  he  can  see 
how  it  appears  in  the  light  of  subsequent  discoveries, 
and  be  prepared  to  more  carefully  weigh  the  proud  de- 
liverances of  more  recent  years.  Turning  to  Volume 
XVIJI,  for  1811,  we  find  an  extended  argument 
to  prove  the  great  antiquity  of  the  zodiacs  of 
Dendera  and  Esne,  which,  engraved  in  wood,  were 
found  by  Napoleon  in  Egypt.  They  were  fastened 
upon  the  ceilings  in  the  temples.  The  Signs  of  the 
Zodiac — lion,  virgin,  balance,  scorpion,  archer,  and 
Capricorn — were  engraved  in  regular  succession  there- 


70  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

on,  seeming  to  indicate  a  remote  antiquity  astronom- 
ically reckoned. 

The  gist  of  the  argument,  in  a  few  words,  is  as 
follows :  "  The  equinoxes  recede  a  sign  in  about 
two  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty  years ;  and 
consequently  since  the  sun  at  the  summer  solstice 
is  now  in  the  first  degree  of  gemini,  and  was  about 
the  twenty-fourth  of  cancer  when  these  zodiacs  of 
Dendera  were  constructed,  they  cannot  be  referred  to 
a  much  later  period  than  three  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred years  ago.  The  zodiac  of  Esne  is  unquestion- 
ably much  more  ancient  than  those  of  Dendera." 

The  argument  seemed  conclusive.  Figures  would 
not  lie — especially  astronomical  figures.  There  was 
almost  a  panic  in  some  ecclesiastical  camps.  Atheistic 
France  was  wild  with  hilarity  over  the  complete  refu- 
tation of  Bible  chronology.  The  story  was  told  in 
pamphlets,  and  tracts,  and  periodicals  throughout  the 
reading  world.  Even  those  who  were  scarce  able  to 
read  caught  up  the  prevailing  cry  of  "  Away  with 
Moses  and  the  Bible  !  "  But  a  patient,  serious-minded 
scholar,  bent  upon  knowing  the  truth,  had  also  been 
in  Egypt — the  younger  Champollion.  lie  had  become 
an  expert  at  deciphering  the  strange  hieroglyphics 
of  that  land  of  wonders.  He  had  gone  into  the  tem- 
ples at  Dendera,  and  succeeded  in  clearly  making 
out  in  Greek  characters  the  names  of  several  Roman 
emperors,  among  whom  were  Tiberius  and  Nero, 
while  on   the  porch  of  the  Esne  temple  he  read  in 


In  His  Origin.  71 

the  same  language  "  Antoninus  Pius  "  and  "  Claudius." 
He  was  in  no  special  haste  to  herald  these  decipher- 
ings to  the  world,  for  they  were  only  a  small  part  of 
the  great  mass  of  evidence,  confirmatory  of  the  Bible 
record,  which  he  was  constantly  accumulating,  and  so 
the  zodiacs  were  torn  down  and  carried  home  to  be 
exulted  over  by  infidels,  as  above  described,  before 
Champollion  returned.  When  he  did  return,  and  an- 
nounced the  plain  fact  that  these  zodiacs  were  not  as 
old  as  the  time  of  Nero,  and  proved  it  by  what  was 
actually  engraved  upon  them,  infidelity  stood  aghast, 
and  faint-hearted  Christians  again  took  courage,  as 
through  the  lifting  clouds  of  another  disappearing 
storm  the  granite  front  of  unshaken  Truth  stood  forth 
in  the  sunlight. 

This  is  a  fair  sample  of  the  general  course  of 
events  in  connection  with  this  department  of  inquiry 
ever  since :  First,  the  discovery  of  some  interest- 
ing inscription  or  device  ;  second,  the  confident  an- 
nouncement of  great  antiquity,  and  the  consequent 
overthrow  of  the  Bible  account  of  man's  origin ; 
third,  the  discovery  that  its  date  is  within  the  rec- 
ords, and  that  the  very  article  which  was  thought  to 
militate  against  the  Bible  is  a  strong  confirmation  of 
its  truth. 

With  the  giving  of  "  a  sample"  I  must  be  content ; 
and,  in  lieu  of  further  details,  direct  the  attention  of 
the  reader  to  the  numerous  well-known  works  devoted 
specifically  to  this  subject. 


72  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

There  is  perhaps  no  better  authority  on  all  ancient 
documents  pertaining  to  Egyptian  and  Babylonian  an- 
tiquities than  George  Rawlinson.  Neither  this  nor 
any  previous  generation  has  furnished  a  more  accu- 
rate or  painstaking  observer  and  recorder  of  the  facts. 
Having  examined  and  tested  in  every  possible  manner 
the  works  of  Berosus,  the  Chaldaean,  and  Manetho, 
the  Sebennyte,  he  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  they  are 
of  very  great  value.  This  estimate,  by  one  who  has 
so  good  a  right  to  judge,  renders  it  very  important  to 
ascertain  just  what  the  outcome  of  their  teaching  is 
concerning  the  antiquity  of  man,  and  the  Bible  ac- 
count of  creation  ;  for  Berosus,  in  particular,  has  been 
very  extensively  quoted  by  the  advocates  of  a  great 
antiquity,  and  claimed  as  a  most  formidable  adversary 
of  Bible  chronology.  The  reader  of  almost  any  one 
of  the  pretentious  skeptical  works  on  this  subject 
would  conclude,  from  the  quotations  from  Berosus, 
that  the  full  weight  of  his  authority  was  on  the  side 
of  an  almost  fabulous  antiquity. 

What  does  Rawlinson  say  ? 

"  If  we  now  proceed  to  compare  the  Mosaic  account 
of  the  first  period  of  the  world's  history  with  that  out- 
line which  may  be  obtained  from  Egyptian  and  Baby- 
lonian sources,  we  are  struck  at  first  sight  with  what 
seems  an  enormous  difference  in  the  chronolosw. 
The  sum  of  the  years  in  Manetho's  scheme,  as  it  has 
come  down  to  us  in  Eusebius,  is  little  short  of  thirty 
thousand  ;  while  that  in  the  scheme  of  Berosus,  as 


In  His  Origin.  73 

reported  by  the  same  author,  exceeds  four  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand!  But,  upon  a  little  consideration, 
the  greater  part  of  this  difficulty  vanishes.  .  .  .  Omit- 
ting in  each  case  what  is  plainly  a  mythic  computa- 
tion, we  have  in  the  Babylonian  scheme  a  chronology 
which  mounts  up  no  higher  than  two  thousand,  four 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  years  before  Christ,  or  eight 
hundred  years  after  the  deluge  (according  to  the 
numbers  of  the  Septuagint),  while  in  the  Egyptian 
we  have  at  any  rate  only  an  excess  of  about  two  thou- 
sand years  to  explain  and  account  for.  .  .  .  And  this 
latter  discrepancy  becomes  insignificant,  if  it  does  not 
actually  disappear,  upon  a  close  scrutiny.  .  .  .  Some 
of  the  greatest  names  in  this  branch  of  antiquarian 
learning  are  in  favor  of  a  chronology  almost  as  mod- 
erate as  the  historic  Babylon,  the  accession  of  Menes, 
according  to  them,  falling  about  2660  B.  C,  or  more 
than  six  hundred  years  after  the  Septuagint  date  for 
the  deluge."  * 

Thus  are  the  castles  of  Infidelity  again  brought 
down  upon  its  own  head,  and  one  more  element 
of  confirmation  added  to  that  revelation  of  God 
found  in  the  origin  of  man;  and,  did  space  permit,  it 
would  be  very  easy  to  add  many  others.  The  rap- 
idly multiplying  confirmations  of  the  Bible  record 
actually  embarrass  the  Christian  apologist  by  their 
variety. 

Christ  once  said  concerning  his  disciples,  "  If  these 

*  Historical  Evidences,  p.  63. 


74  Man  a  .Revelation  of  God. 

should  hold  their  peace  the  stones  would  immedi- 
ately cry  out;"  and  it  would  seem  that,  without  wait- 
ing for  them  or  their  successors  to  hold  their  peace, 
the  stones  have  actually  begun  crying  out ;  and, 
in  these  last  decades,  the  voices  have  become  so  nu- 
merous, and  have  in  them  such  a  clear  and  defi- 
nite ring,  that  infidels  are  becoming  afraid  of  that 
department  of  research  which  once  seemed  their 
chosen  field.  For  scarcely  can  they  unearth  an  old 
burial-place,  or  decipher  some  ancient  inscription,  in 
the  hope  of  refuting  Moses,  without  having  it  lift  up 
its  long-imprisoned  voice  and  cry  aloud  in  praise  and 
honor  of  Ilim  who  "in  the  beginning  created  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,"  and,  as  the  crowning  act, 
formed  man  in  his  own  image.  Christian  scholars, 
on  the  contrary,  who  formerly  almost  feared  the 
unsealing  of  these  stony  lips,  now  urge  on  the  work 
with  avidity,  and  eagerly  listen  for  every  new  voice, 
finding  great  satisfaction  in  its  clear  witness  to  the 
genuineness  and  authenticity  of  the  Book.  But, 
pleasing  as  it  might  be  to  record  these  testimonies 
further,  I  must  bring  this  chapter  to  a  close,  confident 
that  enough  has  been  written  to  establish  the  second 
part  of  our  introductory  proposition  ;  namely,  that, 
concerning  the  origin  of  man,  the  book  purporting  to 
be  a  divine  revelation  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  all 
ascertained  facts  as  taught  by  the  most  advanced 
science,  and  entirely  adequate  to  account  for  the 
result. 


In  His  Origin.  75 

The  following,  from  the  Russian   of   Derzhavin, 
is  full  of  both  truth  and  beauty : 

"  Whence  came  I  here,  and  how— so  marvelously 
Constructed  and  conceived?     Unknown  !     This  clod 
Lives  surely  through  some  higher  energy  ; 
For  from  itself  alone  it  could  not  be. 

"Creator!     Yes!     Thy  wisdom  and  thy  word 
Created  me !     Thou  source  of  life  and  good ! 

Thou  Spirit  of  my  spirit,  and  my  Lord  ! 

Thy  light,  thy  love,  in  their  bright  plenitude 

Filled  me  with  an  immortal  soul,  to  spring 
Over  the  abyss  of  death,  and  bade  it  wear 

The  garments  of  eternal  day,  and  wing 

Its  heavenly  flight  beyond  this  little  sphere, 
Even  to  its  source— to  Thee— its  Author  there." 


11  0  rich  and  various  man !  thou  palace  of  sight  and  sound,  carry- 
ing in  thy  senses  the  morning  and  the  night,  and  the  unfathomable 
galaxy;  in  thy  brain  the  geometry  of  the  city  of  God;  in  thy  heart 
the  power  of  love  and  the  realms  of  right  and  wrong." — Emerson. 

"I  am  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made:  marvelous  are  thy  works; 
and  that  my  soul  knoweth  right  well." — David. 

"  Man  is  the  hero  of  the  eternal  epic  composed  by  the  Divine  intel- 
ligence."— Schetting. 

"Tis  immortality  deciphers  man, 

And  opens  all  the  mysteries  of  his  make." — Young. 

"  There  is  but  one  temple  in  the  world,  and  that  is  the  body  of  man. 
Nothing  is  holier  than  this  high  form.  Bending  before  men  is  a 
reverence  done  to  this  revelation  in  the  flesh.  We  touch  heaven 
when  we  lay  our  hand  on  a  human  bodv." — Novalis. 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  77 


CHAPTER   II. 
IN    HIS    PHYSICAL   STRUCTURE. 

The  purpose  of  the  present  chapter  is  to  show  that 
man  is  a  revelation  of  God  in  his  physical  structure. 
"We  have  already  seen  that  he  is  a  revelation  of 
God  in  his  origin.  The  elucidation  of  this  proposi- 
tion has  involved  the  examination  of  some  of  the  nat- 
uralistic theories  of  life.  It  is  not  my  purpose,  at 
present  to  open  these  for  further  discussion.  The 
reader  not  already  convinced  that  none  of  the  phys- 
ical theories  of  life  can  account  for  its  origination 
would  hardly  be  reached  by  further  argument.  We 
enter  upon  this  chapter  agreed  that  man  was  created 
by  supernatural  power.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  all 
other  theories  of  his  origin  are  contrary  to  the  dem- 
onstrations of  science,  and  out  of  accord  with  human 
reason,  while  this  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  those 
demonstrations,  and  in  exact  accord  with  reason,  the 
reasomihle  man,  the  rationalist  properly  so  called, 
cannot  do  otherwise  than  accept  the  proposition, 
"  In  the  beginning  God  created." 

In  entering  upon  the  consideration  of  the  marvelous 
structure  of  man's  body,  and  the  evidences  of  infinite 
wisdom  therein  displayed,I  wTould  not  therefore  be  un- 
derstood as  undertaking  to  demonstrate  the  existence  of 


7S  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

an  otherwise  unknown  God.  The  absolute  validity 
of  the  argument  from  design,  as  a  fundamental  posit 
of  theism,  is  an  open  question,  which  it  is  not  my 
province  to  here  discuss.  But,  having  the  body 
of  man  before  us  created  by  God,  as  a  previously 
demonstrated  fact,  the  whole  domain  of  design  argu- 
ment, as  drawn  from  that  body,  opens  as  an  additional 
revelation  of  God.  This  sort  of  revelation  is  of 
much  value  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  is  sec- 
ondary to  the  book  revelation.  I  speak  of  "  the 
body  of  man  created  by  God  as  a  previously  demon- 
strated fact,"  not  meaning  to  be  understood  as  think- 
ing that  the  existence  of  God  has  been,  or  even  can 
be,  demonstrated  in  a  physical  or  materialistic  sense.  I 
wish  to  be  fully  understood  on  this  point  at  the  very 
outset,  for  one  of  the  most  common,  as  well  as  one  of 
the  most  unfair,  objections  to  theism  is  that  it  fails  to 
demonstrate  the  existence  of  God,  the  objector  using 
the  word  ''demonstrate"  in  the  ordinary  semi-mathe- 
matical sense.  Let  it  be  distinctly  understood  that  no 
theist  who  understands  the  foundation  principles  of  his 
argument  professes  to  have  accomplished,  or  even 
attempts,  such  demonstration.  The  objector  who 
assumes  that  he  does  is  simply  loading  the  argument 
with  burdens  which  do  not  belong  to  it,  in  the  hope 
of  sinking  it.  There  is  always,  and  must  ever  be,  a 
large  increment  of  probable  evidence  admitted  into 
every  argument  which  has  to  do  with  the  great  ques- 
tions  of  life   and  destiny.     To  undertake  to  bring 


In  ITis  Physical  Structure.  TO 

these  immortal  problems  to  the  same  methods,  in  all 
respects,  that  we  use  in  demonstrating  that  "  In 
every  right-angled  triangle  the  square  of  the  hypot- 
enuse is  equal  to  the  sum  of  the  squares  of  the  other 
sides "  *  is  manifest  absurdity,  and  unworthy  the 
hiffh  scientific  source  whence  the  demand  for  it  so 
often  comes. 

Those  who  make  this  demand  evidently  forget  the 
wide  difference  existing  between  the  mere  formal 
sciences,  and  those  which  have  to  do  with  real  entities. 

Even  the  physical  scientist,  be  he  genuine,  does 
not  profess  to  "  demonstrate "  his  theories  in  the 
mathematical  sense,  but  gathers  facts  with  great  care- 
fulness, interrogates  nature  in  all  directions,  finds 
out  all  that  lie  can,  tests  his  hypotheses  by  these  facts  ; 
brings  all  into  harmony  as  far  as  possible,  and  mod- 
estly affirms  that,  as  far  as  the  facts  are  ascertained, 
the  theory  accounts  for  them.  Only  the  crude  inves- 
tigator boastingly  dogmatizes.  It  will  be  observed 
that  the  subject  of  this  chapter — "  Man  a  Revelation 
of  God  in  his  Physical  Structure  "—says  nothing  about 
demonstration. 

The  simple  fact  is  that  this  word  has  become  so 
common  that  even  the  most  discreet  speakers  and 
writers  too  often  fail  to  discriminate  between  abso- 
lute proof,  and  proof  into  which  the  element  of 
probability  enters.  The  reason  is  twofold :  first, 
the  natural  tendency  to  assume  that  the  listener  or 

*  Prop.  47,  Euclid's  Elements. 


80  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

reader  thinks  our  thoughts  after  us,  as  we  think 
them,  even  though  not  fully  explained ;  second  (and 
of  greater  weight),  the  fact  that  in  all  the  more  im- 
portant concerns  of  life — in  society  and  business,  in 
church  and  state,  in  all  departments  of  our  mani- 
fold relations  which  are  not  of  the  grossest  material 
Bort  —  we  constantly  act  on  probable  evidence  as 
though  it  were  demonstrative. 

Hence  we  see  and  hear  much  about  the  "demon- 
strative force  of  the  argument  from  design,"  "  the 
absolute  force  of  analogy,"  "the  impregnable  fortress 
of  systems  of  final  cause,"  etc.  These  are  all,  doubt- 
less, well-meant  phrases,  and,  in  the  sense  in  which 
they  are  uttered  or  written,  in  the  intent  of  the  author, 
they  are  probably  correct ;  but  we  need  to  learn  the 
careful  and  accurate  use  of  our  instruments  before 
we  can  succeed  in  doing  our  work  well. 

That  design  inheres  in  intelligence,  that  intelli- 
gence is  necessary  to  design,  that  one  cannot  exist 
without  the  other,  are  accepted  fundamentals  of 
thought.  But  just  as  soon  as  we  enter  the  domain  of 
the  immaterial,  the  realm  of  mind,  and  commence  to 
talk  about  its  necessary  laws,  we  get  outside  of  math- 
ematical demonstration.  This  we  are  doing  con- 
stantly. No  one  of  us  can  engage  in  active  life  a 
single  hour  without  it.  Hence  the  absurdity  of  un- 
dertaking to  depreciate  the  value  of  this  sort  of  rea- 
soning. If  the  indications  of  design  in  man's  body 
are  so  manifest  that    they  cannot  rationally  be  ac- 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  81 

counted  for  without  intelligence,  and  if  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  thought,  as  far  as  we  can  under- 
stand them,  are  violated  by  a  refusal  to  admit  such 
intelligence,  then  that  design  becomes  a  revelation^or 
an  illustration  of  God  ;  not  a  demonstration,  as  be- 
fore urged,  but  a  setting  forth,  a  bringing  out  before 
the  mind,  an  illustration  or  making  clear,  a  reveal- 
nient  of  that  Supreme  Intelligence  we  call  God.  And 
is  not  this  the  greatest  need  of  the  human  race  to-day  ? 
I  will  not  stop  here  to  argue  the  question 
whether  or  not  we  know  God  by  intuition ;  but  who 
is  there  without  a  present  consciousness  that  God  ex- 
ists? Certainly  no  one  who  is  reading  this  book,  for 
the  class  of  people  mentioned  in  Psa.  liii,  1,  do  not 
read  much. 

Conscious  that  God  exists,  however  we  may  have 
arrived  at  this  consciousness,  what  we  most  need 
is  a  clearer  view  of  him,  a  fuller  comprehension  of 
his  attributes,  a  larger  appreciation  of  his  omnipo- 
tence, a  brighter  view  of  his  omniscience,  a  sweeter 
sense  of  his  unfailing  love.  These  could  not  be  im- 
parted to  us  by  the  written  word  alone.  Neither  could 
we  obtain  them  through  the  formulae  of  logic  and 
science.  We  needed  something  more  concrete  than  a 
syllogism,  more  tangible  than  hypothesis  ;  and  the 
Creator,  knowing  the  need  of  his  creatures,  and  hav- 
ing all  means  at  his  command,  spread  abroad  through- 
out the  material  universe,  and  particularly  in  man's 
own  dwelling-place,  abundant  illustrations  of  his  mar- 
4* 


82  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

velous  working,  his  universal  supervision,  and  his  lov- 
ing care. 

While,  therefore,  we  do  not  presume  to  prove  the 
existence  of  God  by  the  argument  from  design,  we 
do  assume  to  show  unmistakable  evidences  of  design 
in  the  human  frame,  and  in  so  doing  render  a  more 
valuable  service  than  the  other  would  be,  even  if 
possible. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  calling  attention  to  how 
much  grander  appears  the  real  worth  of  the  argu- 
ments from  analogy,  design,  final  causes,  etc.,  when 
their  purpose  is  thus  seen  to  be  revelation  rather  than 
demonstration.  Few  works  that  minister  to  the  head 
alone  live  beyond  the  second  generation.  Bishop 
Butler's  Analogy  grows  fresher  with  added  }*ears, 
and  promises  to  be  immortal.  Why  ?  It  illustrates 
or  reveals  God  as  previously  known  in  the  human  con- 
sciousness. It  strengthens,  and  by  inferences  con- 
stantly drawn  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  mightily 
confirms,  his  faith  in  the  existence  of  God ;  but  its 
chief  service  is  the  clearer  vision  afforded  by  it  of 
the  divine  attributes. 

Those  skeptics  who  have  written  so  confidently 
against  this  and  similar  works  have  entirely  missed 
their  fundamental  meaning.  Even  some  Christian 
scholars  have  felt  called  upon  to  apologize  for  the 
supposed  weakness  of  the  good  bishop's  argument, 
from  the  same  cause. 

But  these  are  not  as  numerous  as  formerly.     Men 


In  His  Physical  Steuctube.  83 

are  coining  to  realize  that  mental  and  physical  science 
are  closely  related  ;  and  it  would  seem,  from  a  careful 
survey  of  the  present  aspects  of  theological  subjects 
in  the  light  of  recent  advances  in  the  mental  and 
physical  sciences,  that  the  minds  of  men  were  being 
more  and  more  drawn  away  from  the  old  theory  of  a 
rigid  demonstration  of  the  existence  of  God,  either 
teleological  or  ontological,  and  more  and  more  drawn 
toward  the  theory  of  an  immediate  view  of  God,  a 
coming  into  his  personal  presence,  without  the  inter- 
vention of  any  a  priori  or  a  posteriori  high-priest  of 
demonstration.  I  do  not  mean  that  men  are  drifting 
toward  pantheism  or  a  pure  idealism,  but  I  mean 
that  they  are  coming  to  think  more  of  life  and  less 
of  lofffc — more  of  a  direct  revelation  of  God  in  an- 
alogy  and  design,  and  less  of  a  formal  proof  that  shall 
convince  only  the  intellect. 

In  an  address  delivered  before  the  "American  In- 
stitute of  Christian  Philosophy"  last  year  by  Profess- 
or B.  P.  Bowne,  that  careful  thinker  and  most  ex- 
cellent authority  in  mental  science  states  some  facts 
which  are  exactly  pertinent  to  the  subject  in  hand  : 

'k  A  large  and  important  part  of  our  beliefs  are 
born,  not  of  argument  and  abstract  speculation,  but  of 
life  and  sentiment.  These  beliefs  are  not  reached  as 
conclusions  of  a  syllogism,  but  are  developed  as  out- 
growths of  life.  They  are  there  before  speculation 
begins.  .  .  .  The  failure  to  grasp  the  true  nature  of 
belief  often   leads  to  mistaken  expectations  and  im- 


84  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

practical  demands,  with  resulting  doubt  and  disap- 
pointment. .  .  .  We  are  said  to  be  illogical,  to  rest 
upon  feeling,  to  take  things  for  granted,  and  to  do 
divers  other  things  which  are  equally  unsavory  from 
a  logical  stand-point.  Anti-religious  polemics  abound 
in  this  sort  of  thing,  and  frequently  good  people  are 
puzzled  by  it,  and  made  to  believe  that  religion  must 
live  on  especially  uneasy  terms  with  logic.  Now,  I 
believe  that  all  this  is  a  mistake.  The  charge  of  bad 
logic,  so  far  as  it  is  valid,  lies  not  merely  against  our 
religious  procedure,  but  against  our  entire  mental 
procedure;  and  this  charge  again  derives  all  its  force 
from  a  mistaken  conception  of  mental  method  and  the 
general  nature  of  belief.  .  .  . 

"  Man  is  not  an  abstract  speculator  and  logic- 
machine,  but  is  a  living  being,  with  practical  interests 
and  necessities  to  which  he  must  adjust  himself  in  or- 
der to  live  at  all.  The  human  mind  is  practical  rather 
than  speculative.  It  lives  and  acts  and  has  experi- 
ences long  before  it  speculates  and  theorizes.  In  its 
practical  unfolding  it  adjusts  itself  in  a  measure  to 
the  universe,  but  in  a  still  greater  measure  it  adjusts 
the  universe  to  itself." 

Inasmuch  as  these  necessities  of  our  being  are  ever 
pressing  upon  us,  we  have  a  right  to  expect  to  find  a 
supply  provided  by  the  Author  of  that  being.  Even 
the  most  cursory  glance  at  nature  begins  to  meet  this 
expectation,  while  a  careful  scrutiny  fully  satisfies  it. 
In   earth   and  sea  and   sky,  in  mountain,  valley,  and 


In  IIis  Physical  Structure.  85 

plain,  in  fish  and  fowl  and  mammal,  in  swarming  in- 
sects and  creeping  things,  in  "  every  thing  that  hath 
life,"  we  find  the  supply  of  these  necessities.  Yea, 
even  inorganic  nature,  the  very  rocks  beneath  our 
feet,  the  conformation  of  continents,  and  of  sea  and 
river  systems,  proclaim  with  marvelous,  unspoken 
eloquence,  the  Unsearchable  One. 

Having,  then,  endeavored  to  make  it  plain  to  the 
reader  that,  on  the  one  hand,  I  do  not  rest  upon  any 
or  all  of  the  teleological  or  ontological  arguments  for 
the  absolute  proof  of  the  divine  existence,  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  I  regard  them  as  of  great  and  lasting 
worth,  I  proceed  to  call  attention  to  the  marvelous 
mechanism  of  the  human  frame  as  one  element  in 
this  material  revelation  of  God,  or,  as  formally  stated 
at  the  head  of  this  chapter,  "  The  revelation  of  God  in 
man's  physical  structure." 

That  with  which  we  become  perfectly  familiar 
often  loses  its  attraction.  Although  the  trite  saying, 
"  Familiarity  breeds  contempt,"  may  not  be  literally 
true,  it  suggests  a  truth.  The  first  visit  to  Niagara 
fills  a  man  with  awe;  he  stands  gazing  upon  its 
mighty  power  in  rapt  admiration,  and  goes  away  with 
his  whole  being  suffused  by  it;  he  returns  at  inter- 
vals of  a  few  months  or  years  with  ever-increasing 
interest;  but  let  him  settle  down  to  reside  within 
the  sound  of  its  deafening  roar,  and  soon  he  will  not 
go  materially  out  of  his  way  to  view  its  marvelous 
grandeur. 


So'  Man  a  .Revelation  of  God. 

Men  and  women  make  long  and  difficult  pilgrim- 
ages to  the  big  trees  of  California,  and  the  indescrib- 
able wonders  of  the  Yosemite  Valley,  and  are  so 
enraptured  and  inspired  that,  though  they  never  visit 
them  again,  the  vision  of  beauty  and  magnificence 
remains,  and  their  whole  nature  is  made  nobler  for  a 
life-time;  but  children  and  youth  grow  up  to  man- 
hood in  the  midst  of  such  soul-inspiring  sights  and 
think  little  of  them. 

Subservient  to  the  same  tendency  of  our  natures, 
we  fail  to  find  any  thing  specially  noticeable  in  our 
own  physical  organism  unless  attention  is  specially 
called  thereto,  while  we  will  travel  many  miles,  and 
be  at  great  pains  and  expense,  to  examine  some  uncom- 
mon wonder — which  is,  after  all,  much  less  wonderful 
than  the  feet  which  carry  us  thither,  or  the  hands  and 
eyes  with  which  we  make  the  examination. 

The  strange,  the  unusual,  the  abnormal  attracts  at- 
tention. As  long  as  the  clock  goes  regularly  on  with 
its  tick-tock,  tick-tock,  nobody  thinks  any  thing  about 
the  system  of  wheels  and  springs  within  ;  but  let  it 
stop,  and  how  quickly  we  notice  them.  A  hundred 
chicks  come  out  of  their  fragile  shell-houses  and  pro- 
ceed each  one  to  walk  on  two  feet,  and  eat  corn-meal 
with  one  bill,  and  the  owner  says  nothing  to  his  neigh- 
bors about  it ;  but  let  one  come  out  with  four  feet, 
and  proceed  to  pick  with  two  beaks,  and  he  at  once 
becomes  the  center  of  attraction. 

Born    in    these     living,    growing,    ever-changing 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  bT 

houses  called  bodies,  we   become   so  accustomed  to 
them   that  we  do  not  realize  but  that  they  are  our 
very  selves,  instead  of  simply  dwellings,  unless  some 
ache  or  pain    arrests  our  attention.      Then  we  say, 
"My  head  aches ;"  or,  "My  foot  is  lame;"  or,  "  My 
hand  is  sore;"   or,  "My  body  is  racked  with  pain." 
«  My  body  "—yes,  not  I  fnpdf,  but "  my  body."   These 
bodies,  then,  are  worthy  of  careful  study.     Even  the 
most  superficial  view  will  convince  us  that  this  very 
familiar,   every-day  presence  is   full  of  wonders  all 
unexplored  by  the  great  multitudes  even  of  educated 
men  and  women. 

THE    SKIN. 

Consider  the  garment  of  exquisite  texture  which 
is  given  the  body  as  a  covering.  At  first  thought  it 
would  hardly  be  supposed  that  this  would  be  chosen 
as  showing  the  unmistakable  marks  of  design,  and  so 
revealing  the  Designer.  It  seems  like  such  an  inferior 
part— me  rely  the  clothing,  the  husk-different  portions 
of  which  may  be  protected  or  exposed,  according  to 
the  taste  or  convenience  of  the  owner. 

But  let  us  examine  it  a  little  more  carefully.  My 
authorities  for  the  anatomical  and  physiological  facts 
in  this  chapter  are  chiefly  Gray,  Dalton,  and  Mar- 
shall, whose  works  have  been  my  text-books  for 
years,  and  to  whom  I  here  give  full  credit  for  all 
technical  matter  not  inclosed  in  quotation  marks,  and 
accredited  to  other  authors. 

A  covering  was  needed  which  should  be  firm  enough 


88  Man  a  Revelation  of   God. 

to  afford  protection  against  injury,  and  still  be  suffi- 
ciently susceptible  to  outside  impressions  to  give 
quick  and  accurate  information  of  the  presence  of 
serious  danger.  Not  only  this,  but  it  must  be  so 
constructed  as  to  adapt  itself  to  varying  condi- 
tions of  exposure,  and  at  the  same  time  be  capable 
of  ministering  to  our  pleasure.  This  alone  presents 
a  problem  of  no  mean  importance,  and  not  easy  of 
solution. 

But  difficulties  only  bring  into  clearer  view  the 
power  that  overcomes  them.  We  commonly  think  of 
the  skin  as  a  single  thickness  of  covering,  but  it  con- 
sists of  two  layers,  the  derma  or  true  skin,  and  the 
cuticle  or  scarf-skin.  This  is  manifest  in  case  of  a 
blister,  when  the  cuticle  is  separated  from  the  true 
skin  and  puffed  out  by  the  serum  underneath.  In 
the  true  skin  we  find  also  two  layers.  The  under 
layer  is  firm  fibrous  tissue,  capable  of  protecting 
within  itself  the  various  important  little  glands, 
nerves,  and  blood-vessels  which  must  be  there  pre- 
served for  their  several  functions.  This  layer  is  of 
varying  thickness  and  toughness  on  different  parts  of 
the  body.  The  upper  layer  rests  upon  it  as  a  yield- 
ing cushion,  and  at  the  same  time  as  a  tough,  elastic, 
resisting  covering  for  the  deeper  parts.  This  layer  is 
a  thin,  extremely  delicate,  and  highly  sensitive  one. 
It  is  made  up  largely  of  minute  folds  of  blood-vessels, 
nerves,  and  terminal  filaments  of  various  ducts,  and 
is  supplied  with  nerve  fibers,  sparsely  or  in  abundance, 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  S9 

according  as  there  is  little  or  great  necessity  for  the 
sense  of  touch. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  "  Why  this  arrange- 
ment?" Why  was  not  the  sensitive  layer  placed 
under  the  tough  and  cushion-like  one?  Chance  would 
have  been  as  apt  to  place  them  one  way  as  the  other. 
Can  we  conceive  the  change  in  our  condition  were 
this  transposition  to  take  place  ?  This  covering,  now 
so  delicately  sensitive  as  to  inform  us  promptly  of  the 
presence  of  injurious  agents,  would  be  dull  in  sen- 
sibility to  such  an  extent  that  injuries  would  con- 
stantly be  received  ;  which,  with  the  resulting  inflam- 
mation, would  involve  the  deeper  sensitive  portion 
and  keep  us  in  a  state  of  perpetual  disease. 

Again,  why,  if  it  be  only  a  chance  arrangement, 
was  not  the  entire  skin  made  up  of  this  sensitive  ma- 
terial ?  Blind  fate  might  be  expected  to  blunder  upon 
a  covering  similar  throughout  much  more  readily 
than  upon  such  a  complicated  one. 

But,  had  this  been  the  case  all  our  movements 
wTould  have  been  more  or  less  painful,  and  some  of 
our  occupations,  which  are,  under  the  present  wise  ar- 
rangement, engaged  in  with  comfort  and  even 
pleasure,  would  have  been  impossible  without  the 
most  excruciating  torture.  This  is  sufficient  to  indi- 
cate design  ;  but  our  admiration  for  the  wisdom  mani- 
fested in  the  construction  of  these  wonderful  garments 
given  us  by  nature  increases  as  we  look  carefully  at 
the  cuticle— this  scarf-skin,  the  superficial  particles 


00  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

of  which  we  remove  with  every  application  of  soap 
and  water,  and  minute  particles  of  which  are  con- 
stantly being  rubbed  off  by  the  clothing. 

The  cuticle  is  not  a  mere  hardened  layer  of  the  true 
skin,  changed  into  this  form  by  exposure,  as  might 
seem  to  be  the  case  without  careful  examination.  It 
is  a  distinct  covering  in  itself  considered,  consisting 
of  flattened  cells  stuck  together,  and  having  a  sort  of 
laminated  arrangement.  Why  is  it  here?  Evidently 
the  sensitive  surface  of  the  true  skin  could  perform  its 
office  of  feeling,  and  warn  ns  of  the  presence  of  inju- 
rious agents  without  it.  .  Nay,  it  would  seem  that  the 
usefulness  of  the  true  skin,  in  this  particular,  would 
be  impaired  by  any  additional  covering  like  the  cuticle. 
But  without  it  the  difficulty  would  be  over-sensitive- 
ness, such  a  degree  thereof  as  to  amount  to  constant 
misery. 

Think  of  the  smarting,  burning  discomfort  when 
merely  a  small  portion  of  the  cuticle  is  removed,  after 
a  blister  has  been  formed.  How  carefully  we  strive 
to  protect  it  from  the  air,  and  at  the  same  time  from 
all  rubbing,  or  even  the  slightest  contact  with  solid 
substances!  With  unguents  and  lotions,  oiled  silks 
and  tallowed  muslin,  we  strive  to  make  up  for  the 
loss  of  a  little  patch  of  this  insignificant  scarf-skin. 
Imagine,  then,  the  torture  of  having  it  removed  from 
the  whole  surface  of  the  body,  and  the  true  skin  left 
entirely  exposed.  The  contact  of  the  air  would  be 
like  the  contact  of  fire,  while  ordinary  clothing  would 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  01 

give  about  the  sensation  of  being  wrapped  in  sheets 
filled  with  scalding  water.  No  language  is  adequate 
to  describe  the  suffering  which  would  result  from  the 
loss  of  just  this  apparently  insignificant  membrane. 
This  torture  would,  of  course,  render  the  skin  abso- 
lute^ useless.  Plence  that  which  at  first  thought 
seemed  a  hinderance  is  a  great  help.  The  wisdom  of 
its  design  appears  yet  more  strikingly  when  we  con- 
sider what  is  requisite  in  its  construction  and  adapta- 
tion, and  how  these  requisites  are  supplied. 

For  the  sensitive  true  skin  there  was  needed  tirst 
of  all  a  covering  which  would  protect  it  and  at  the 
same  time  not  destroy  its  sense  of  touch  or  feeling.  It 
must  also  have  the  power  of  self-adaptation  to  vary- 
ing degrees  of  exposure  or  usage. 

Now  mark  its  composition.  It  is  made  up  of  mi- 
nute cells  agglutinated  or  stuck  together.  These  are 
round  or  columnar  next  the  true  skin,  and  become 
flattened  nearer  the  surface.  How  beautiful  is  this 
adaptation  to  its  intended  use  !  The  rounded  or  col- 
umnar cells,  soft  and  pliable,  fitting  perfectly  against 
the  sensitive  foldings  of  the  nerve  extremities,  and 
transmitting  with  accuracy  every  impression,  and  the 
flattened,  less  pliable,  and  somewhat  toughened  cells 
forming  a  beautiful,  thin,  elastic  covering  over  all, 
and  yet  each  and  every  point  fitting  so  perfectly  upon 
every  point  beneath  that  sense  perception  is  un- 
hindered. 

This  were  indeed  enough  to  show  the  most  beautiful 


92  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

design  ;  but  when  one  considers  how,  as  the  outer  cell 
scales  are  being  constantly  removed  on  becoming  dry 
and  lifeless,  the  next  ones  under  become  adapted  to 
take  their  places,  while  new  ones  constantly  origi- 
nate and  grow  in  the  marvelous  matrix  of  the  true 
skin,  and  further  considers  the  nice  adjustment  of 
thickness  upon  the  various  parts  of  the  body,  being 
very  delicate  and  extremely  thin  on  the  unexposed 
portions,  and  becoming  thicker  by  use,  until  on  the 
palm  of  the  laborer's  hand  it  is  almost  as  tough  and 
hard  as  ordinary  leather,  furnishing  complete  protec- 
tion, while  on  the  hand  of  the  man  who  needs  a  per- 
fect sense  of  touch  it  may  be  kept  in  the  most  deli- 
cate condition,  his  conviction  of  all-wise  design  is 
still  further  strengthened. 

Nor  is  this  all.  Certain  portions  of  the  body  require 
special  protection,  as  the  brain  and  the  region  of  impor- 
tant glands,  and  over  these  portions  we  have  not  merely 
the  ordinary  cuticle  but  a  growth  of  hair,  greater  or  less 
in  thickness  and  length  according  to  the  apparent  needs. 
This  hair  is  only  a  peculiar  modification  of  the  cuti- 
cle, consisting  essentially  of  the  same  cellular  structure. 
The  ends  of  the  fingers  and  toes  also  need  some  special 
guards  or  protectors,  and  here  we  have  what  we  call 
nails  ;  but  they  are  only  this  same  scarf-skin  or  cuticle 
with  its  wonderful  little  cells  brought  to  a  different  con- 
dition of  arrangement  and  growth.  Think  of  nailless 
finders,  or  fingers  with  nails  on  the  balls !  Blind 
chance  would  have  been  just  as  apt  to  put  them  there 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  93 

as   anywhere.     Or,  suppose  the  cuticle  had  "devel- 
oped "  into  nails  on  the  head  and  face,  and  into  hair 
on  the  fingers  and  toes  !     Why  not  %     The  most  emi- 
nent authorities  tell  us  they  are  all  of  the  same  essen- 
tial structure.     This  would  seem  to  be  indicated  in 
the  constant  rubbing  off  of  the  ordinary  cuticle  in 
bathing,  and  the  occasional  cutting  off  of  the  nails  and 
hair,  and  further  by  the  fact  that  frequent  cuttings 
and  clippings  tend  to  the  health  and  rapid  growth  of 
the  latter,  even   as  frequent  scrubbings  tend  to  the 
health  and   vigor    of    the  former.      How  strikingly 
beautiful,  then,  appears  the  wisdom  of  that  Power 
which  brings  out  of  the  same  elements  these  varied 
substances  which  constitute  the  skin  as  a  whole,  and 
then  out  of  that  which  is  one  and  the  same  substance 
produces   such    varied  forms,  and   places  them   just 
where   they   are  needed,  and   in   just  the  quantities 
required  ! 

But  there  are  still  other  wonders  as  yet  merely 
touched  upon.  The  skin  must  needs  perform  other 
functions  than  those  of  protection,  information 
through  touch,  and  pleasurable  sensation.  These 
offices  would  seem  to  make  sufficient  demands 
upon  it,  but  others  are  equally  imperative.  I  will 
call  attention  to  but  one ;  namely,  excretion,  or  the 
carrying  off  of  the  watery  and  gaseous  worn-out  ma- 
terials of  the  body.  Even  if  chance  had  happened 
to  give  us  a  garment  equal  to  all  previously  men- 
tioned requirements  it  might  have  been  a  perfectly 


iU  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

impervious  one.  Inclosed  in  such  a  covering  a  man 
could  not  live  a  single  day  !  But,  as  we  have  seen, 
there  are  scattered  all  over  the  body  numerous  little 
openings  called  pores.  They  are  invisible  to  the 
naked  eye,  for  they  number  millions  on  an  average 
sized  man,  being  more  plentiful  on  some  parts  than 
on  others.  These  are  the  openings  of  what  are  called 
sweat-glands,  which  are  little  reddish  bodies  situated 
deep  down  in  the  skin,  and  which  are  constantly 
drinking  up  the  effete  gases  and  liquids  of  the  flesh, 
and  sending  them  out  by  these  pores. 

It  is  sometimes  supposed  that  it  is  only  when  we 
can  see  or  feel  this  excretion— when  we  are  conscious 
that  we  perspire  or  sweat— that  it  is  taking  place. 
This  is  not  so.  The  fact  is  that  one  unacquainted 
with  the  science  of  physiology  can  hardly  be  made  to 
comprehend  how  great  is  the  amount  of  those  sub- 
stances which  are  constantly  passing  off  from  the 
healthy  body.  A  sudden  chill  or  "cold"  will  some- 
times lead  us  to  think  about  it,  but  this  is  only  a  par- 
tial closing  of  these  millions  of  little  outlets.  It  is 
very  important,  then,  that  they  be  so  arranged  as  not 
to  become  easily  stopped  up.  In  the  thicker  portions 
of  the  cuticle  this  would  almost  constantly  occur  did 
they  come  straight  out  to  the  surface.  What  wis- 
dom, then,  in  the  spiral  form  which  they  assume  in 
these  parts,  coming  up,  as  seen  under  the  microscope, 
with  all  the  regularity  of  a  coil  spring,  and  opening 
on  the  surface  by  a  flattened  valve-like  mouth,  which 


In  His  Physical  Structure. 


95 


will  remain  open  even  under  pressure.  All  this 
mechanism  is  provided  for  without  in  the  least  im- 
pairing the  functions  of  touch  and  protection. 

Finally,  the  attention  of  the  reader  is  invited  to 
the    distribution   of   nerves   to   the   skin.      Here    is 
perhaps   the   most   complicated  arrangement  in    the 
whole  system.     All  the  intricate  and  beautiful  design 
hitherto  pointed   out  would   avail   nothing   without 
some   means   of    communication    with    the    general 
nervous   system,    and   through    it    with    the    brain. 
This  means  is  furnished  in  the  most  perfect  manner 
and   degree.     The  nerves  of  touch,  having  branched 
off  front  the  main  trunk,  form,  in  the  more  superficial 
layers  of  the  tougher  portion  of  the  true  skin,  a  sort 
of  plexiform  mesh,  out  of  which  come  almost  innu- 
merable nerve-fibers,  which  are  distributed  to  all  the 
papillae.     Every  one  of  these  nerve-filaments  is  con- 
nected as  a  distinct  individual  with  its  plexus,  and 
thence  with  the  nerve  system.     We  gain  some  notion 
of  their  number  by  considering  that  the  finest  needle- 
point placed  anywhere   on  healthy  skin  is   sure  to 
wound  one  of  them,  and  have  its  presence  reported 
to  the  brain  through  the  whole  intervening  system. 
It   is  difficult  to   conceive  of   the  delicacy  of  these 
nerves,  and   the  accuracy   of   their  reporting.      Sir 
Charles  Bell,  in  his  celebrated  Bridgewater  Treatise 
on  the  hand,  well  says : 

"It  is  assumed  that  the  nerve  of  the   eye  is  finer 
than  the  nerve  of  the  finger,  without  considering  that 


96  Man  a  Rev  elation  of  God. 

the  retina  is  insensible  to  that  quality  of  matter  of 
which  we  readily  acquire  the  knowledge  through 
touch !  Nerves  are,  indeed,  appropriated  to  peculiar 
senses,  and  to  the  bestowing  of  distinct  functions,  but 
delicacy  of  texture  has  nothing  to  do  with  this.  The 
nerve  of  touch  in  the  skin  is  insensible  to  light  or  to 
sound  not  because  it  has  a  coarser  or  more  common 
texture.  The  beauty  and  perfection  of  the  system  is 
that  the  nerve  is  made  susceptible  to  its  peculiar 
impression  only.  The  nerve  of  the  skin  is  alone 
capable  of  giving  the  sense  of  contact,  as  the  nerve 
of  vision  is  confined  to  its  own  office."  * 

Did  not  the  limits  of  this  chapter  forbid  further 
enlargement  upon  this  subject,  still  other  beauties  and 
intricacies  of  structure  might  be  pointed  out ;  but  even 
this  partial  view  cannot  have  failed  to  impress  every 
thoughtful  reader  with  the  manifest  wisdom  of  that  de- 
sign which  has  provided  for  the  human  body  a  cover- 
ing that  is  a  more  valuable  protection  than  would  be 
a  coat-of-mail,  and  yet  so  constructed  as  to  minister  to 
our  physical  pleasure  in  many  ways,  and  become  a  most 
important  means  of  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  the  world 
about  us.  The  importance  of  the  sense  of  touch  as  an 
assistant  to  the  sense  of  sight  is  but  poorly  appreciated. 

I  doubt  whether  one  who  has  good  eyes,  but  no 
sense  of  touch,  would  not  find  greater  difficulty  in 
obtaining  a  knowledge  of  material  substances  than 
one  who  has  a  perfect  sense  of  touch  but  no  eyes. 

*  On  the  Hand,  p.  117. 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  07 

I  know  not  that  there  has  ever  been  an  opportunity 
to  test  the  former,  but  many  opportunities  have  been 
furnished  for  testing-  the  latter,  and  every  one  is 
aware  that,  to  the  child  born  blind,  the  fingers  become 
a  very  good  substitute  for  eyes.  And  this  by  a  text- 
ure, which,  though  so  delicate  and  sensitive,  may  be- 
come as  tousfh  and  resisting  as  the  firmest  leather — 
yes,  may  become  positively  horny  in  its  consistence, 
and  be  shaved  off  the  palms  of  the  laborer's  hands  as 
one  would  shave  sole-leather. 

Surely  in  all  this  can  be  seen  such  evidences  of 
design  as  cannot  be  disproved  by  the  most  skillful 
naturalist,  nor  doubted  by  any  sane  man  who  will 
give  them  serious  attention. 

THE    EAR. 

Now,  having  considered  the  husk,  and  found  in  it 
such  wonders  of  manifest  design,  such  beautiful  reve- 
lations of  God,  I  ask  attention  to  the  organ  of  hear- 
ing, which  is  another  structure  but  little  understood 
and  less  appreciated.  The  sense  of  hearing  is  of  very 
great  consequence  to  the  animal  creation  in  general, 
and  every  species,  of  any  degree  of  advancement,  is 
supplied  therewith.  Many  interesting  facts  might 
be  gathered  from  a  survey  of  the  comparative  anato- 
my of  this  organ,  even  as  of  others,  but  our  attention 
will  be  confined  to  the  human  ear.  When,  in  ordi- 
nary conversation,  we  speak  of  the  ear,  we  generally 
have  reference  simply  to  the  external  ear,  that  curi- 


98  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

ously  shaped,  skin-covered  cartilage  which  is  fastened 
to  the  side  of  the  head.  But,  while  this  is  very 
essential,  it  by  no  means  constitutes  all  of  the  ear,  el- 
even the  most  important  part  thereof.  It  is  essen- 
tially a  gatherer  of  aerial  vibrations,  so  arranged  as  to 
transmit  them,  when  gathered,  through  the  auditory 
canal  to  the  tympanum,  or  ear-drum.  Although  but 
a  simple  structure,  it  would  be  beyond  the  power  of 
art  to  produce  its  duplicate,  as  regards  its  adaptations 
to  the  varying  conditions  under  which  it  is  placed ; 
and  its  general  contour  has  never  yet  been  improved 
upon,  for  gathering  and  transmitting  sound-waves. 

The  auditory  canal  is  about  an  inch  and  a  quarter 
in  length,  and  ends  at  the  drum  of  the  ear.  Chance 
might  have  placed  the  ear-drum  on  the  outside  ;  but, 
being  of  necessity  a  delicate  membrane,  it  would 
have  been  subject  to  constant  injury  and  disease 
from  exposure;  hence,  the  all-wise  Designer  placed 
it  within  the  protecting  bones  of  the  skull,  and  con- 
structed a  skillfully  arranged  passage  thereto,  throng 
which  the  sound-waves  can  pass  unimpeded,  but  fr 
which  solid  substances  are  excluded.  This  passage- 
way is  guarded  at  the  entrance  by  numerous  fine, 
but  quite  stiff,  hairs.  As  an  additional  protection 
against  the  intrusion  of  insects,  and  for  the  purpose 
of  keeping  the  skin  and  cartilage  soft  and  pliant, 
numerous  little  wax  glands  are  provided,  which  con- 
stantly send  out  a  sort  of  bitter,  sticky  secretion 
exactly  adapted  to  these  purposes. 


i 

'Olll 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  90 

Another  mark  of  wisdom  appears  just  here,  in  the 
fact  that  the  middle  of  this  canal  is  higher  than 
either  end,  thus  lessening  the  liability  of  small  par- 
ticles of  liquids,  as  drops  of  perspiration,  to  find  their 
way  to  the  sensitive  tympanum.  The  fact  of  its  gen- 
eral direction  being  obliquely  forward  is  an  addi- 
tional safeguard.  Thus  do  evidences  of  design  meet 
us  at  the  very  entrance  to  this  unpretentious  organ, 
and,  were  we  to  go  no  further,  sufficient  has  been 
found  to  confirm  our  belief  in  the  impossibility  of  its 
chance  formation. 

But  as  soon  as  we  enter  upon  an  examination  of 
the  middle  ear  these  evidences  rapidly  multiply.  We 
find  here  an  irregular  cavity  a  little  less  than  half  an 
inch  long,  and  about  one  fourth  of  an  inch  in  diam- 
eter. It  is  filled  with  air,  and  has  for  a  part  of  its 
boundary  the  ear-drum.  We  are  still  only  in  the 
ante-room.  The  internal  ear,  at  which  we  are  to  look 
hereafter,  is  the  real  instrument  of  hearing ;  the  ex- 
ternal and  middle  ear  being  only  accessory  thereto. 
But  what  marvels  of  wisdom  have  we  here,  even  in 
the  ante-chamber ! 

Most  carefully  must  every  sound-wave  which  has 
been  gathered  by  the  external  ear  and  transmitted 
to  the  ear-drum  be  preserved  and  carried  on  to  the 
internal  ear,  so  that  the  auditory  apparatus,  there  in- 
geniously protected  from  all  harm,  may  receive  them 
and  transmit  the  impressions  to  the  brain  with  per- 
fect accuracy.     To  this  end  the  ear-drum,  first  of  all, 


100  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

must  be  perfect,  and  must  rest  upon  an  elastic  cushion 
of  air.  To  secure  this  is  no  easy  matter,  in  so  small 
space  as  can  here  be  given.  Specially  difficult  is  it 
in  a  living  organ,  where  the  inclosed  air  requires  to 
be  constantly  changed  in  order  to  have  it  pure. 

The  first  requisite  is  an  escape-valve.  It  is  well 
known  that  every  drum  must  have  a  vent-hole,  or  the 
first  stroke  might  burst  the  head.  The  tympanum,  or 
membrane  of  the  ear,  holds  a  relation  to  the  organ  of 
hearing  similar  to  that  of  the  drum-head  to  the  drum. 
Vent  is  ingeniously  arranged  for  through  the  Eusta- 
chian tube.  This  little  tube  is  from  an  inch  and  a  half 
to  two  inches  in  length,  and  extends  from  the  middle 
ear  downward,  forward,  and  inward,  to  the  pharynx 
or  throat.  It  is  so  arranged  that  its  opening  into 
the  pharynx  is  ordinarily  closed,  but  not  at  all  firm- 
ly, so  that,  while  the  tympanum  remains  essentially 
a  closed  cavity,  rendering  its  contents  an  elastic 
cushion,  it  is  still  not  so  closed  but  that  there  is  easy 
communication  with  the  surrounding  parts.  This 
secures  equal  atmospheric  pressure  upon  both  sides 
of  the  ear-drum.  This  semi-valve-like  opening,  or 
double  valve-like  opening,  is  a  most  interesting  con- 
trivance; for  it  not  only  permits  the  inclosed  air  to 
pass  out  on  slight  pressure,  but  also  permits  outside 
air  to  be  forced  in  when  occasion  demands  it.  By 
this  tube  also,  the  secretions  of  the  mastoid  cells  and 
tympanum  are  permitted  to  escape.  These  secretions 
are  absolutely  necessary  to  preserve  the  living  mem- 


In  His  Physical  Stbdctuee.  101 

branes  of  the  middle  ear  in  health  ;  and  yet,  were 
there  no  outlet  for  them,  they  would  soon  accumu- 
late to  such  an  extent  as  to  hinder  hearing,  and  cause 
disease. 

Anyone  who  has  ever  had  a  "cold  in  the  head,"  or 
tonsils  so  swollen,  from  whatever  cause,  as  to  close 
this  little  vent-hole  of  the  ear,  has  had  a  practical 
proof  of  its  importance.  The  feeling  of  pressure,  or 
tension,  amounts  sometimes  to  positive  pain,  and 
great  is  the  relief  when  communication,  the  very  ex- 
istence of  which  we  hardly  realized  until  it  was  cut 
off,  is  re-established. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  most  remarkable  indications 
of  design  found  in  the  middle  ear  are  seen  in  the 
complicated  arrangement  for  regulating  the  tension 
of  the  ear-drum,  and  assisting  in  conveying  the  sound- 
waves to  the  internal  ear. 

It  is  well  known  to  every  one  that  sound  is  much 
more  readily  conveyed  through  solids  than  through 
air.  Let  the  reader  place  his  ear  upon  the  table,  and 
strike  the  bare  wood  with  his  pencil,  and  he  will  have 
an  easy  illustration.  Here  we  have  communication 
from  ear-drum  to  internal  ear  by  means  of  a  chain  of 
little  bones,  winch  all  together  weigh  but  a  small 
fraction  of  an  ounce,  and  yet  they  are  perfectly 
formed  bones,  perfectly  jointed,  supplied  with  blood 
vessels  and  furnished  with  muscles.  They  are  three 
in  number.  The  malleus,  so-called  from  its  resem- 
blance to  a  little  mallet,  is  fastened  to  the  ear-drum, 


102  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

and  has  two  small  muscles  attached  to  it.  One  of  these, 
called  the  tensor  tympani,  tightens  the  ear-drum  ; 
and  the  other,  called  the  laxator  tympani,  is  sup- 
posed to  loosen  it.  The  incus  is  a  very  minute  bone, 
shaped  like  an  anvil,  and  is  placed  between  the  mal- 
leus and  the  third  bone,  called  the  stapes.  This  last 
is  joined  to  the  internal  ear,  completing  the  chain,  and 
has  fastened  to  it  the  smallest  muscle  in  the  body,  it 
being  only  one  fifth  of  an  inch  long  and  one  fifteenth 
of  an  inch  wide.  Still,  as  nearly  as  can  be  deter- 
mined, it  lias  an  important  duty  to  perform  in  regu- 
lating the  tension  of  the  membranes  around  the  open- 
ing into  the  internal  ear. 

It  is  true,  we  do  not  fully  understand  the  modus 
operandi  of  this  beautiful  mechanism,  and  hearing  is 
not  dependent  upon  it,  in  any  absolute  sense ;  but  we 
know  enough  about  it  to  be  profoundly  impressed 
with  the  utter  impossibility  of  any  such  combination 
resulting  from  chance.  These  little  bones,  with  their 
muscles,  ligaments,  and  attachments,  are  endowed 
with  power  to  act  without  our  will  and  knowledge,  in 
adjusting  the  tension  of  the  ear-drum  to  sounds  of 
varying  pitch ;  and,  besides  this,  we  seem  to  possess  a 
measure  of  voluntary  regulating  power,  which  we 
find  ourselves  exercising  when  making  an  effort  to 
distinguish  one  sound  from  another,  or  to  detect  some 
sound  scarcely  discernible. 

Passing  from  the  middle  ear  to  the  internal  ear, 
which  is  placed  in  the  cavities  of  the  temporal  bone, 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  103 

we  find  a  small  irregular  central  cavity,  just  about  large 
enough  to  hold  a  grain  of  pearl  barley.  Anatomists 
call  this  the  vestibule,  which  is  perhaps  an  appro- 
priate name,  yet  it  seems  to  be  really  the  "  central 
station,"  into  which  and  out  of  which  all  messages 
must  come  and  go.  In  front  of  it  is  the  cochlea,  and 
behind  are  the  semicircular  canals. 

These  canals  are  bony  structures  of  unequal  length, 
about  one  twentieth  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  Each  one 
starts  out  from  the  vestibule,  and  making  the  larger 
part  of  a  circle  returns  again,  being  enlarged  at  one  end 
into  what  is  called  the  ampulla,  about  twice  the  diam- 
eter of  the  other  parts.  The  upper  semicircular  canal 
is  vertical  in  direction,  and  stretches  across  the  petrous 
portion  of  the  temporal  bone,  forming  by  its  arch  a 
round  projection  on  its  front  surface.  It  forms  about 
two  thirds  of  a  circle.  The  posterior  canal  is  also 
vertical  and  directed  backward,  nearly  parallel  to  the 
posterior  surface  of  the  petrous  bone.  It  is  the  long- 
est of  the  three.  The  external  canal  is  the  shortest 
of  the  three,  its  arch  being  directed  outward  and 
backward.  Thus  each  semicircular  canal  stands  at 
rio-ht  anodes  to  the  other  two.  Its  ampullated  end 
corresponds  to  the  upper  and  outer  angle  of  the  ves- 
tibule, just  above  the  oval  window.  Its  opposite  end 
opens,  by  a  distinct  orifice,  at  the  upper  and  back  part 
of  the  vestibule. 

Within   the  vestibule  of    these  bony  semicircular 
canals  is  the  membranous  labyrinth,  so-called,  which 


104  Man  a  Kevelation  of  God. 

is  a  closed  sac  containing  fluid.  It  lias  the  same  gen- 
eral form  as  these  inclosures.  The  vestibular  portion 
consists  of  two  sacs,  the  utricle  and  the  saccule. 

The  utricle  is  the  larger  of  the  two,  and  occupies 
the  upper  and  back  part  of  the  vestibule.  Numerous 
filaments  of  the  auditory  nerve  are  distributed  on  the 
wall  of  this  sac,  and  its  cavity  communicates  behind 
with  the  membranous  semicircular  canals  by  five  ori- 
fices. The  membranous  semicircular  canals  are  about 
one  third  the  diameter  of  the  bony  canals,  but  in 
number,  shape,  and  general  form  they  are  precisely 
similar.  The  membranous  labyrinth  is  held  in  its 
position  by  the  numerous  nervous  filaments  distrib- 
uted to  the  utricle,  to  the  saccule,  and  to  the  ampulla 
of  each  canal.  This  little  membranous  arrangement 
is,  in  and  of  itself,  a  marvel  of  beauty.  In  fact,  the 
bony  canals  and  vestibule  seem  to  be  intended  mainly 
for  its  support  and  protection.  Its  walls,  though  so 
delicate,  consist  of  three  distinct  layers,  the  outer  one 
of  which  is  a  loose  vascular  structure  more  or  less  col- 
ored, the  middle  one  thicker  and  more  transparent,  or 
glassy-looking,  while  the  internal  layer  is  formed  of 
nucleated  epithelial  cells  in  the  form  of  polygons. 
This  layer  secretes  a  watery  fluid  having  slight  traces 
of  albumen,  but  otherwise  almost  pure  water,  called 
the  endolymph ;  while  between  the  bony  canals  and 
the  membranous  there  is  also  a  limpid  fluid,  of  sim- 
ilar composition,  called  the  perilymph. 

Thus  do  we  find  this  wonderful  little  sensitive  organ, 


In  His  Physical  Stbtjctube.  105 

with  its  delicate  nerve  filaments,  not  only  protected 
by  a  strong  bony  envelope,  conformed  accurately  to  its 
every  curve,  but  even  guarded  from  contact  with  its 
own  covering  by  a  liquid,  ever  changing  and  perfect 
in  its  chemical  properties,  while,  within,  there  is  the 
same  delicate  provision  against  any  contact  between 
the  two  surfaces  of  the  sensitive  epithelial  lining. 
Did  all  this  merely  happen  thus?  Did  blind  chance 
place  here  in  these  secluded  cavities  and  grooves  of 
the  temporal  bone,  well  out  of  reach  of  harm,  within 
a  space  not  large  enough  to  hold  an  ordinary  kernel 
of  corn,  a  structure  so  complicated  that  the  grandest 
triumphs  of  art  have  never  equaled  it  ?  Did  some 
u  appetency,"  or  principle  of  "  natural  selection,'-  or 
inherent  "  tendency  to  self-arrangement,"  cause  the 
bony  semicircular  canals  and  vestibule' to  choose  out 
this  safe  position,  and  the  membranous  labyrinth  to 
choose  these  bony  receptacles,  and  secrete  the  protect- 
ing perilymph  and  endolymph,  and  provide  in  the 
saccule  and  utricle  the  delicate  little  otoliths  ?  To 
ask  these  questions  is  to  answer  them. 

But  we  have  not  even  yet  reached  the  most  wonder- 
ful portion  of  the  human  ear.  The  cochlea  is  the 
real  sanctum  sanctorum  toward  which  all  these  other 
vestibules,  aisles,  door- ways,  windows,  and  labyrinthine 
passages  have  been  leading.  It  bears  some  resem- 
blance to  a  common  snail-shell.  It  forms  the  interior 
part  of  the  labyrinth,  is  conical  in  form,  and  placed 

almost  horizontally  in   front  of  the  vestibule.     The 

5* 


106  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

point  of  this  snail-shell  is  directed  forward  and  out- 
ward. The  broad  open  part  rests  upon,  or  corres- 
ponds to,  the  hollow  at  the  bottom  of  the  internal 
auditory  channel,  and  has  numerous  little  holes 
for  the  passage  of  a  branch  of  the  auditory  nerve. 
It  measures  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length, 
and  its  breadth  toward  the  base  is  about  the  same. 
Like  the  ordinary  snail-shell,  it  has  a  cone-shaped  cen- 
tral axis.  Two  and  one  half  times  around  this  central 
axis,  like  a  spiral,  is  wound  a  canal.  Running  through 
the  center  of  this  canal  is  a  wonderful  little  partition 
of  most  delicate  structure  called  the  "  lamina  spira- 
lis." This  spiral  is  about  an  inch  and  a  half  in  length, 
measured  on  its  outer  wall,  and  diminishes  gradually 
in  size  from  the  base  to  the  summit,  where  it  termi- 
nates in  a  ciil-de-sac,  which  forms  the  point  of  the 
cochlea,  or  snail-shell.  The  commencement  of  this 
canal  is  about  one  tenth  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  The 
lamina  spiralis  is  the  essential  part  of  the  cochlea, 
upon  which  the  nerve  tubules  are  distributed.  This 
partition  is  bony  about  half  way  across  the  diameter 
of  the  spiral  canal,  and  membranous  or  muscular  the 
remaining  half.  The  bony  part  consists  of  two  thin 
plates,  between  which  are  numerous  canals,  for  the 
passage  of  nervous  filament,  which  open  chiefly  on 
the  lower  surface.  The  membranous  part  is  a  trans- 
parent, glassy  structure,  having  a  fibrous  appearance. 
The  grooved  margin  of  the  bony  part  has  upon  its 
upper    edge   a   finely-toothed    membrane,  called    the 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  107 

"  zona  deuticulata ;"  and  on  its  lower  edge  another  of 
equal  interest,  called  the  "zona  pectinata."  Attached 
to  this  upper  margin  is  also  a  fine  layer  of  periosteum, 
called  the"  membrane  of  Corti."  To  the  lower  edge 
is  fastened  the  basilar  membrane ;  and  upon  this 
membrane  rests  the  "  organ  of  Corti." 

Here  we  have  a  complete  piano  key-board,  double, 
for  there  are  two  sets  of  these  rods  of  Corti,  and  they 
are  beautifully  graduated  in  length,  and  have  spaces 
between ;  so  that,  under  the  microscope,  they  present 
quite  the  appearance  of  a  complicated  key-board,  and, 
with  their  varying  lengths  from  base  to  apex  so 
nicely  representing  the  varying  pitch,  it  really  seems 
that  here  we  have  a  perfect  instrument  of  most  ex- 
quisite design  ;  and,  while  its  intricate  mechanism  has 
thus  far  baffled  the  utmost  skill  of  anatomical  and 
physiological  science,  we  know  enough  about  it  to 
convince  us  that  it  is  most  wonderfully  adapted  to  its 
special  uses.  We  know  not  exactly  hoiv,  but  we 
know  that  the  ear  actually  does  distinguish  the  pitch 
and  quality  of  sounds. 

Some  may  not  be  aware  that  all  sound-waves  can 
be  mathematically  measured,  but  such  is  the  case. 
Harmonic  tones  are  always  multiples  of  fundamental 
tones.  Every  piano  and  organ  is  constructed  mathe- 
matically. As  far  as  anatomists  have  been  able  to 
determine,  this  wonderful  organ  of  Corti,  with  its 
two  thousand  eight  hundred  keys,  is  constructed  on 
the  same    strict    mathematical    principle?.     I   cannot 


108  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

here  enter  upon  an  explanation  of  the  mathematics  of 
sound,  and  must  refer  the  reader  to  some  one  of  the 
numerous  works  on  that  subject.  Perhaps  there  is 
no  better  than  that  of  Tyndall.  It  is  surprising  to 
note  the  scientific  harmonies  existing  where  least 
expected. 

A  recent  author  of  considerable  note,  Rev.  Samuel 
Haughton,  F.R.S.,  in  a  work  entitled  Principles  of 
Animal  Mechanics,  has  quite  clearly  shown  that 
even  our  ordinary  muscles  are  formed  geometrically, 
and  act  with  mathematical  precision.  This  remains 
yet  to  be  proved,  but  I  believe  it  will  be ;  for  it  is  in 
perfect  accord  with  that  love  of  order  displayed  in  all 
God's  works. 

In  this  nice  mathematical  construction  of  the  in- 
ternal ear,  as  related  to  the  mathematics  of  sound,  we 
get  a  hint  of  the  higher  harmonies  which  may  exist 
in  the  universe,  all  unheard  by  us.  Human  skill  has 
brought  musical  instruments  to  a  great  degree  of  per- 
fection, but  in  this  space  of  the  fourth  of  an  inch  we 
have  a  register  of  sound  far  excelling  them  all. 

Still,  its  two  thousand  eight  hundred  keys  seem  to 
be  graduated  so  exquisitely  that  they  pass  off  into 
silence  with  the  implied  statement  that  there  are  finer 
sound-waves  beyond. 

Astronomers  tell  us  that  the  harmonies  of  motion 
among  the  heavenly  bodies  are  also  in  accord  with  these 
strict  mathematical  laws.     If  this  be  true,  the  poet?s 

'•  Forever  slngirg  as  they  shine  " 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  109 

becomes  scientific  fact  instead  of  poetic  fancy,  and 
we  may  confidently  expect  to  hear  them  sometime. 

THE   CIRCULATORY    SYSTEM. 

In  looking  for  illustrations  or  revelations  of  God 
in  the  human  body,  perhaps  the  most  natural  ten- 
dency would  be  to  examine  the  eye.  At  lea^t  this 
organ  has  been  dwelt  upon  by  nearly  every  writer  on 
this  and  similar  subjects,  and  still  it  has  never  yet 
been  exhausted.  But  I  purpose  to  pass  it  by,  as 
being  so  manifest  a  revelation  of  infinite  wisdom  as 
to  need  no  explanation,  and  invite  attention  to  the 
circulatory  system. 

"  The  blood  is  the  life."  It  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  the  maintenance  of  the  health,  and  even  the 
existence,  of  the  various  tissues  that  it  be  conveyed 
to  them  constantly.  Having  imparted  its  life-giv- 
ing properties,  it  is  equally  essential  that  it  be 
carried  away  again.  Not  only  to  the  limbs  and 
larger  muscles  must  it  be  thus  carried,  but  even  to 
the  minuter  structures,  such  as  we  have  just  been 
examining.  The  delicate  little  keys  of  our  marvelous 
miniature  piano  must  each  and  every  one  be  sup- 
plied with  blood.  The  little  papillae,  only  one  two- 
hundred-and-fiftieth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  as  imper- 
atively demand  this  life-giving  fluid  as  do  the  largest 
structures  in  the  body.  How  is  this  constant  distri- 
bution effected  ?  We  answer,  in  a  word,  by  the  cir- 
culatory apparatus.     But  this  is  a  complicated  arrange- 


110  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

nient;  consisting  of,  1.  The  heart ;  a  hollow,  muscular 
organ,  which  receives  the  blood  at  one  orifice  and 
drives  it  out,  in  successive  impulses,  at  another ; 
2.  The  arteries  ;  a  series  of  branching  tubes,  which 
convey  the  blood  from  the  heart  to  the  different 
tissues  and  organs  of  the  body ;  3.  The  capillaries ;  a 
network  of  minute  tubes,  which  are  interwoven  with 
the  substance  of  the  tissues,  and  which  bring  the 
blood  into  immediate  contact  with  the  cells  and  libers 
of  which  they  are  composed  ;  and,  4.  The  veins ;  a  set 
of  converging  vessels,  designed  to  collect  the  blood 
from  the  capillaries,  and  return  it  to  the  heart.  In 
each  of  these  four  different  parts  of  the  circulatory 
apparatus,  the  movement  of  the  blood  is  peculiar,  and 
dependent  upon  special  conditions. 

The  heart  is  the  great  central  engine.  It  is  a  hol- 
low organ,  having  four  distinct  cavities.  It  weighs 
about  three  quarters  of  a  pound,  in  the  average  sized 
man,  and  is  about  as  large  as  the  fist.  It  looks  like  a 
very  ordinary  muscle  when  viewed  externally,  but  on 
opening  it  we  discover  various  special  arrangements. 
A  muscular  partition  divides  it  into  halves  so  com- 
pletely as  to  really  form  two  distinct  hearts  ;  for  there 
is  no  direct  communication  between  the  two  sides. 
Each  side  is  again  divided  crosswise  ;  but  this  partition 
is  not  as  complete  as  the  other,  for  there  is  communi- 
cation between  the  two  ends.  The  upper  end  on  each 
side — the  broad  end — is  called  the  auricle.  The  lower 
end — the  narrow,  pointed  end — is  called  the  ventricle. 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  Ill 

We  discover  that  the  muscular  structure  of  the  ven- 
tricles is  much  thicker  and  much  firmer  in  texture  than 
that  of  the  auricles,  and  also,  that  the  walls  of  the  right 
ventricle  are  much  thinner  than  those  of  the  left. 

We  begin  to  think  that  this  conical  muscular  mass, 
which  presented  such  a  commonplace  appearance, 
was  really  constructed  for  a  definite  purpose.  We 
examine  the  openings  between  the  auricles  and  ven- 
tricles, and  discover  still  more  marked  indications  of 
the  same.  They  are  not  simply  unguarded  openings, 
but  beautiful  valves  so  arranged  as  to  permit  the  free 
passage  of  the  blood  in  one  direction,  but  so  as  to  abso- 
lutely prevent  its  passage  in  an  opposite  direction.  If 
now,  we  consider  the  heart  in  action,  engaged  in  doing 
its  work,  we  shall  see  more  clearly  the  adaptation  of 
the  various  parts  to  their  respective  uses.  Suppose 
the  vitiated  blood,  mixed  with  a  supply  of  new  ma- 
terial from  the  products  of  digestion  and  assimilation, 
to  have  been  poured  into  the  right  auricle  until  it  is 
fully  distended.  (We  might  start  at  any  other  point 
as  well  as  here,  for  we  are  considering  a  completed 
circuit.  But  we  will  commence  our  view  here.)  The 
auricle  contracts  and  forces  the  blood  into  the  right 
ventricle,  which  just  at  this  instant  dilates  and  so 
helps  the  blood  to  enter,  by  a  sort  of  suction  force. 
Immediately  on  being  fully  distended,  the  ventricle 
contracts  powerfully  upon  its  contents;  and  now  a 
large  and  most  perfectly  contrived  and  accurately 
fitted  valve   comes  into  operation.     This  is  the  tri- 


112  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

cuspid  valve ;  so  called  because  it  consists  of  three 
pointed  parts,  or  segments.  Each  segment  is  com- 
posed of  a  triangular  fold  of  membrane,  having  one 
side  attached  and  the  two  others  comparatively  free. 
The  attached  edge,  or  border,  is  closely  connected 
with  the  rim  or  margin  of  the  wTide  opening  leading 
from  the  auricle  into  the  ventricle.  The  two  other 
edges  are  directed  toward  the  cavity  of  the  ventricle, 
within  which,  indeed,  the  segments  of  the  tricuspid 
valve  are  entirely  placed.  These  two  last  named  bor- 
ders are  not  altogether  free,  but  are  fastened  to  the 
inside  of  the  ventricle  by  little  slender  cords,  which 
not  only  prevent  the  three  segments  of  the  valve 
from  ever  being  thrown  back  into  the  auricle,  but 
which,  acted  upon  by  certain  short  fleshy  columns 
connecting  them  with  the  sides  of  the  ventricle,  as- 
sist, when  the  ventricle  contracts,  in  spreading  out  the 
segments  of  the  valve  across  the  opening.  The  press- 
ure of  the  blood  in  the  contracting  ventricle  com- 
pletes the  closure  of  their  margins,  and  thus  that 
fluid  is  effectually  prevented  from  making  its  way 
back  into  the  right  auricle. 

Hence  the  stream  of  blood  is  driven  into  the  pul- 
monary artery,  and  so,  along  the  right  and  left 
branches  of  that  vessel,  into  the  lun^s.  The  right 
ventricle  now  ceases  to  contract,  so  that  the  blood, 
just  driven  by  it  into  the  arteries  leading  to  the 
lungs,  wrould  be  forced  back  again,  were  it  not  for 
another  valvular  apparatus  placed  at  the  root  or  ori- 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  113 

flee  of  the  pulmonary  artery  itself.  Here  are  three 
valves,  called,  from  their  shape,  the  semilunar  valves. 
They  consist  of  three  folds  of  membrane  shaped  like 
half-moons,  having  one  edge  fastened  along  the  line 
of  union  of  the  pulmonary  artery  with  the  ventricle, 
and  the  other  border  free,  and  turned  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  interior  of  that  vessel.  When  the  artery 
is  carefully  cut  open  these  little  folds  appear  like 
pockets,  or  pouches,  fixed  to  its  sides.  Owing  to 
the  direction  of  their  free  edges,  these  valves  permit 
the  passage  of  blood  from  the  ventricle  into  the 
artery,  but  are  speedily  tightened  out  across  the  ap- 
erture of  that  vessel  by  any  returning  movement 
of  the  current ;  and  then,  meeting  closely  together  at 
their  free  margins,  completely  arrest  the  backward 
flow.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  propelling  force 
carries  the  blood  on  through  the  capillaries  of  the 
lungs.  Arrived  in  the  kings,  the  dark  venous  blood 
undergoes  a  wonderful  transformation. 

Distributed  through  the  capillary  system  of  the 
lungs,  there  is  nothing  between  it  and  the  air  except 
two  very  delicate  membranes.  Through  these  mem- 
branes the  carbonic  acid  gas  and  other  impurities  of 
the  blood  readily  pass  outward,  and  the  oxygen  of  the 
air  readily  passes  inward,  and  soon  the  blood,  which 
arrived  here  from  the  right  ventricle  dark  and  im- 
pure, becomes  pure  and  of  a  bright  scarlet  color. 
It  is  now  fitted  for  its  life-giving  functions,  and 
through   the  pulmonary  system    of  veins   is  carried 


114:  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

back  to  the  left  auricle,  which  receives  it  very  much 
as  did  the  right  auricle  until  completely  filled,  when 
contraction  takes  place  and  consequent  expulsion  into 
the  left  venticle,  which  just  at  this  moment  dilates  to 
receive  it.  Immediately  this  ventricle,  which  has  the 
firmest,  thickest  walls  of  any  portion  of  the  heart, 
vigorously  contracts,  sending  the  blood  with  great 
force  out  through  the  aorta  and  on  through  the 
smaller  arteries  into  the  farthest  extremities  of  the 
body  and  into  every  tissue.  Substantially  the  same 
arrangement  of  valves  as  in  the  right  ventricle  pre- 
vents the  blood  from  flowing  back,  except  that  they 
are  two-pointed,  instead  of  three,  and  larger  in  size, 
thicker,  and  in  every  way  stronger  than  the  tricuspid. 
At  the  orifice  of  the  aorta  are  the  semilunar  valves. 
They  are  similar  in  structure,  and  in  their  mode  of 
attachment,  to  those  of  the  pulmonary  artery.  They 
are,  however,  larger,  thicker,  and  stronger,  and  the 
fieshy  columns  which  support  them  are  firmer  and 
more  prominent. 

Now,  considering  merely  this  one  part  of  the 
circulatory  system,  mark  the  beautiful  adaptations. 
In  order  that  the  heart  be  not  a  burden  by  reason 
of  its  weight,  it  must  not  be  very  large,  and  yet  it 
must  perform  an  amount  of  work  almost  incred- 
ible; namely,  it  must  lift  an  estimated  weight  of 
twenty  pounds  at  every  beat,  and  must  beat  about 
seventy  times  per  minute,  on  the  average,  for  sixty 
minutes  in  each  hour  and  for  twentv-four  hours  in 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  115 

each  day,  and  not  ask  to  rest  for  a  single  instant. 
This  amounts  to  a  lift  of  84,000  pounds  per  hour, 
or  2,016,000  pounds  per  day.  Hence  we  find  it  made 
up  of  the  firmest  kind  of  muscular  fiber,  so  arranged 
as  to  occupy  the  least  possible  space  for  a  given 
amount  of  strength. 

At  the  broad  end  are  placed  the  auricles,  the 
receivers,  which  do  not  need  to  exert  much  force, 
and  yet  must  have  as  great  or  even  greater  ca- 
pacity than  the  ventricles.  Moreover,  this  broadened 
portion  is  placed  uppermost,  so  that  the  natural 
force  of  gravity  may  promote  the  inflowing  of  the 
blood,  and  the  thin  walls  need  not  have  this  force 
to  overcome  when  expelling  the  blood  into  the  ven- 
tricles. By  the  aid  of  this  judicious  arrangement 
of  the  parts,  only  a  very  small  portion  of  the  whole 
weight  of  the  organ  need  be  given  to  the  auricles, 
thus  saving  space  and  weight  for  the  ventricles,  which 
are  compelled  to  exert  great  force. 

Again,  we  notice  that  the  right  ventricle,  which  is 
required  to  throw  the  blood  only  as  far  as  the  lungs, 
is  provided  with  but  comparatively  thin  walls,  and 
consequently,  while  having  greater  capacity  than  the 
left,  does  not  constitute  more  than  one  third  of  their 
combined  weight.  Evidently  here  is  the  most  careful 
husbanding  of  working  power,  and  space  in  which  to 
place  it.  The  left  ventricle  has  far  more  to  do  than 
all  the  other  three  cavities  combined,  and  it  has  more 
muscular  power  and  weight  than  all  the  others.     It 


116  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

alone  is  estimated  to  exert  a  force  of  thirteen  pounds 
at  each  contraction,  or  nearly  a  thousand  pounds  per 
minute.  It  has  power  to  send  the  entire  blood  supply 
throughout  the  body  once  in  a  minute  and  a  half. 

When  we  consider  the  beautiful  arrangement  of  the 
tricuspid  and  mitral  valvres  infinite  wisdom  is  still  more 
clearly  exhibited.  Ordinary  valve  structures  could 
not  be  trusted  in  these  important  situations.  Failure 
to  open  readily  would  cause  the  blood  to  be  forced 
back  into  the  veins,  when  the  auricles  began  to  con- 
tract, and  the  least  failure  to  close  with  the  utmost 
promptness,  when  the  ventricles  began  to  contract, 
would  result  in  a  flowing  back  of  the  blood  into  the 
auricles,  instead  of  out  to  the  lungs,  from  the  right, 
and  to  the  entire  body,  from  the  left.  Any  snch 
backward  flow  greatly  hinders  the  heart's  action  and 
produces  the  most  distressing  results,  as  seen  when 
these  valves  become  diseased.  Hence  the  singular 
precautions  taken  to  insure  perfection  of  action  and 
immunity  from  accident. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  seen  a  delicacy  of  struct- 
ure rarely  found  elsewhere  in  the  same  sort  of  instru- 
ments. This  renders  them  exceedingly  pliable,  and 
but  slightly  subject  to  congestion  or  inflammation. 

Secondly,  to  insure  their  efficiency  they  are  ex- 
tended onward  from  their  broad  base  a  considerable 
distance  into  the  ventricles,  terminating  in  delicate 
open  points,  so  that  when  the  ventricle  contracts 
the    pressure  not  only  readily   closes  these   pointed 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  117 

openings,  but  even  presses  together  the  sides  all  the 
way  to  the  base,  preventing  tearing  or  folding. 

Thirdly,  lest  these  thin  extensions  of  membrane 
should  get  floated  out  of  place,  beautiful  columns  and 
rings,  or  hitching-posts,  are  erected  along-side,  and  the 
most  minute,  though  sufficiently  firm  tendons,  or  tie- 
straps,  called  "  chordae  tendinese,"  securely  hold  them 
in  place. 

Fourthly,  these  valves  are  larger  in  size,  thicker, 
and  altogether  stronger  in  the  left  ventricle  than  in 
the  right,  and  the  hitching-posts  are  heavier,  and  the 
tie-straps  thicker  and  stronger — able  to  do  the  double 
work  required  of  them. 

Not  only  is  the  heart  thus  marvelously  adapted  to 
its  intended  purposes,  but  it  continues  to  do  its  work 
without  our  direction  or  supervision — without  even 
our  thought.  This  may  not  appear  to  every  reader 
as  a  matter  of  great  consequence,  for  perhaps  not 
every  one  has  considered  what  would  otherwise 
be  the  result.  If  the  heart  should  cease  to  beat  for 
one  moment  life  would  become  extinct.  If,  then, 
our  conscious  thought  were  necessary  to  keep  it  at 
work  we  could  never  give  our  undivided  attention  to 
something  else,  or  even  permit  ourselves  to  sleep  for 
one  brief  moment.  Moreover,  this  muscle,  unlike 
the  muscles  of  our  body  in  general,  not  only  acts 
without  our  conscious  thought,  or  the  direction 
of  our  wills,  but  continues  to  act  even  against  the 
wilL    No  man  can  stop  his  heart's  beating  at  his 


118  Man  a  Eevelation  of  God. 

own  dictation.  Who  can  measure  the  frequency  of 
suicides  if  this  were  possible  ?  What  multitudes  of 
children  in  fits  of  willfulness  would  call  a  halt  to  ex- 
istence ! 

But  the  same  all-wise  Creator  who  constructed  this 
marvelous  little  engine  of  power  and  placed  it  in  po- 
sition, with  every  part  perfectly  adapted  to  its  work, 
and  set  it  in  motion,  gave  it  ''power  within  itself," 
in  a  certain  sense,  to  continue.  At  least  he  so  or- 
dered its  mechanism  as  to  make  it  independent  of  the 
direct  will  of  the  individual,  leaving  it  subject  only 
to  the  ordinary  vicissitudes  of  disease. 

The  second  part  of  the  circulatory  system — the  ar- 
teries— presents  many  features  of  interest.  Having 
an  organ  capable  of  throwing  the  blood  to  the  utmost 
extremities  of  the  body,  the  next  requisite  is  a 
means  of  communication  to  every  part  which  would 
never  be  closed.  To  meet  this,  considering  the  com- 
plexity of  the  body,  and  the  varying  positions  in 
which  it  would  be  placed,  and  the  varying  press- 
ures which  would  be  exerted  upon  it,  was  no  easy 
matter.  But  it  has  been  accomplished  most  per- 
fectly. 

There  are  two  systems  of  arterial  circulation,  the 
pulmonary  and  the  systemic.  The  former,  which  per- 
tains to  the  carrying  of  the  venous  blood  to  the  lungs, 
will  not  be  considered.  The  latter  commences  with 
the  aorta,  at  the  left  ventricle,  and  extends  to  every 
part  of  the  body  except  the  hair,  nails,  cuticle,  carti- 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  119 

lage,  and  white  of  the  eye.  The  tracing  of  this  intri- 
cate maze  would  be  fall  of  interest,  but  we  must 
content  ourselves  with  a  merely  general  view.  It 
has  been  likened  to  the  minute  ramifications  of  a 
healthy,  thickly  branching  tree,  the  aorta  represent- 
ing the  trunk. 

The  larger  arteries,  in  particular,  have  tough,  highly 
elastic  coatings,  so  that  they  are  always  open,  and  not 
only  offer  no  resistance  to  the  outward  flow  of  the 
blood,  but  by  their  contractile  force  continue  to  urge 
it  onward  after  the  heart  has  ceased  to  contract. 
Furthermore,  the  larger  branches  in  general  pursue 
almost  a  straight  coarse,  thus  helping  on  the  flow. 
Bat  in  certain  situations,  where  a  too  rapid  flow  might 
prove  injurious  to  the  delicate  structures,  their  course 
is  extremely  irregular,  and  even  tortuous ;  as,  for  ex- 
ample, in  the  internal  carotid  and  vertebral  arteries, 
previous  to  their  entering  the  cavity  of  the  skull.  We 
also  find  that  the  larger  branches  of  the  arteries  are 
not  only  well  protected  from  injury  and  compression 
by  muscles  and  fascia,  and  by  being  conveyed  through 
grooves  in  the  bones,  but,  as  a  rule,  are  placed  on  the 
inner  sides  of  the  extremities,  and  on  the  flexion  side 
of  the  joints. 

But,  even  with  this  careful  arrangement,  they  must 
of  necessity  become  compressed  at  times,  and  the  flow 
of  blood  be  temporarily  stopped.  To  provide  against 
any  injury  which  might  result  from  this  stoppage, 
free  communication  is  provided  even  among  the  larger 


120  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

arteries,  and  this  intercommunication  becomes  more 
frequent  as  they  grow  smaller. 

It  is  also  much  more  frequent  between  branches  of 
equal  size  where  great  freedom  and  activity  of  the 
circulation  are  necessary,  as  in  the  brain.  In  the 
limbs  they  are  most  frequent  around  the  larger  joints, 
just  where  compression  would  be  most  apt  to  occur. 
The  wisdom  of  this  arrangement  appears,  not  only  in 
the  ability  to  overcome  these  temporary  arrests  of 
the  arterial  flow  to  any  given  part,  but  also  in  the 
setting  up  of  collateral  circulation  in  case  of  some 
large  branch  having  to  be  corded,  or  becoming  imper- 
vious from  disease.  In  this  provision  we  have  one  of 
the  most  marked  examples  of  that  wise  forethought 
of  the  Divine  Architect  which  has  provided  even 
against  the  necessities  of  disease  and  accident,  which 
he  knew  would  be  man's  common  lot.  At  least  this 
is  the  way  it  appears  to  the  writer.  Some  may  fail 
to  see  any  indications  of  design  herein,  or  any  revela- 
tion of  the  supernatural,  and  go  on  declaiming  against 
the  credulity  of  those  who  believe  in  God  rather 
than  in  chance ;  but  I  leave  it  to  the  sober  sense  of 
the  reader  to  decide  wherein  is  found  the  greater 
credulity. 

I  wish  now  to  call  attention  to  the  third  department 
of  the  circulatory  system — the  capillaries.  If  we 
have  found  marvels  of  adaptation  in  the  heart  and 
arteries  so  great  as  to  astonish  us,  the  astonishment 
will  be  increased  as  we  examine  these  little  vessels, 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  121 

which  seem  so  insignificant.  Useless  would  be  the 
ingenious  mechanism  of  the  heart,  so  perfectly 
adapted  to  throwing  the  life-giving  fluid  through- 
out the  body,  or  the  wonderful  net-work  of  arteries, 
as  perfectly  adapted  to  conveying  it,  were  there  not 
some  means  provided  for  using  it,  on  arriving  at  any 
given  part.  It  might  flow  on  indefinitely  through 
the  tissues  inclosed  in  the  hard  elastic  tube  of  an  ar- 
tery and  they  receive  no  nourishment ;  but,  continu- 
ous with  the  minute  ends  of  the  arteries  on  the  one 
hand,  and  with  the  commencing  rootlets  of  the  veins 
on  the  other,  are  the  capillary  blood-vessels,  which  are 
very  fine,  hair-like  tubes,  that  permeate  almost  ev- 
ery part  of  the  body — every  part,  in  fact,  to  which 
arteries  are  distributed — and  bring  the  blood  into  in- 
timate contact  with  the  substance  of  the  tissues.  They 
vary  somewhat  in  size  in  different  organs  and  in  dif- 
ferent animals,  their  average  diameter  in  the  human 
body  being  a  little  over  one  three-thousandth  of 
an  inch.  They  are  composed  of  a  single  transparent, 
somewhat  elastic,  membrane.  As  the  smaller  arteries 
approach  the  capillaries  they  constantly  diminish  in 
size,  and  lose  first  their  external  or  fibrous  coating. 
They  are  then  composed  only  of  their  internal  coat, 
and  the  middle,  or  muscular.  The  middle  coat  then 
diminishes  in  thickness  until  it  is  reduced  to  a  single 
layer  of  muscular  fibers,  which  in  their  turn  disappear 
altogether  as  the  artery  merges  at  last  in  the  capilla- 
ries, leaving  only,   as  we  have  already   observed,  a 


122  Man  a  Eevelation  of  God. 

simple  membrane,  which  is  continuous  with  the  inter- 
nal arterial  coating. 

The  capillaries  are  further  distinguished  from  both 
arteries  and  veins  by  their  frequent  intercommunica- 
tion. The  arteries  constantly  divide  and  subdivide  as 
they  pass  from  within  outward,  while  the  veins  as 
constantly  unite  with  each  other  to  form  larger  and 
less  numerous  branches  and  trunks,  as  they  pass  from 
the  circumference  toward  the  center.  But  the  capil- 
laries simply  intermingle  with  each  other  in  every  di- 
rection, in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  an  interlacing 
network  called  the  "  capillary  plexus,"  which  is  ex- 
ceedingly abundant  in  some  organs  and  very  limited 

in  others. 

The  spaces  included  between  the  meshes  of  the 
capillary  net- work  also  vary  in  shape,  as  well  as  in 
size,  in  different  parts  of  the  body.  In  the  muscular 
tissue  they  form  long  parallelograms  ;  in  the  areolar 
tissue,  irregular,  shapeless  figures,  corresponding 
with  the  direction  of  the  fibrous  bundles  of  which 
the  tissue  is  composed.  In  the  papillae  of  the  tongue 
and  of  the  skin  they  are  arranged  in  long  spiral  loops. 
The  movement  of  the  blood  in  the  capillaries  may  be 
studied  by  examining,  under  the  microscope,  any 
transparent  tissue  well  supplied  with  these  little  ves- 
sels. The  blood  can  be  seen  entering  by  the  smaller 
arteries,  shooting  along  through  them  with  great  ra- 
pidity, and  flowing  off  again  by  the  veins  at  a  some- 
what slower  rate.     In  the  capillaries  themselves  the 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  123 

circulation  is  considerably  less  rapid  than  in  either 
the  arteries  or  the  veins.  It  is  also  perfectly  steady 
and  uninterrupted  in  its  flow.  Its  fluid  portions  seem 
to  slowly  soak  through  the  walls  of  the  vessels,  and 
are  absorbed  by  the  tissues  in  such  proportion  as  is 
requisite  for  their  nourishment. 

The  blood  in  this  way  furnishes,  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, all  the  materials  necessary  for  the  nutrition  of 
the  body.  But  just  how  this  is  done  no  one  has  ever 
succeeded  in  satisfactorily  explaining. 

It  is  an  easy  matter  to  attribute  it  to  "chemical  af- 
finity," "  appetency  of  tissues  for  their  special  nutri- 
ment," "  inherent  tendency,"  etc.,  etc.,  but  in  these 
very  expressions  is  contained  a  confession  of  igno- 
rance as  to  the  exact  power  which  performs  the  work, 
and  the  candid  investigator  finds  herein  a  new  revela- 
tion of  that  supernatural  Being,  whom  materialistic 
science  proclaims  as  an  unknown  God,  and  yet,  how- 
ever unwillingly,  always  bows  down  before  at  the 
last. 

Dull,  indeed,  must  be  the  sensibilities  of  that  man 
who  can  gaze  through  the  microscope  and  see  the 
bright  arterial  blood  coming  out  of  the  arteries  and 
moving  about  in  its  promiscuous  flow  through  the 
capillary  system,  giving  out  to  the  tissue  its  produc- 
ing substances,  and  taking  up  the  worn-out  material 
until  it  becomes  dull  and  murky  in  color  and  passes 
on  into  the  veins,  without  becoming  amazed  in  the 
contemplation  of  its  mysterious  movements. 


124:  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

Duller  still  must  be  the  soul  of  that  man  who  can 
carefully  consider  how  the  same  fluid,  sent  bounding 
through  the  aorta  from  the  left  ventricle  of  the  heart, 
goes  on  its  way  to  every  part  of  the  body,  and,  as  it  en- 
ters the  capillary  system, gives  up  musculine  to  the  mus- 
cles, osteine  to  the  bones,  cartilagine  to  the  cartilage's ; 
and  so  on  to  every  different  part  of  the  body  just  those 
elements  which  are  needed  for  its  growth  and  repair, 
and  not  be  profoundly  impressed  with  its  significance. 

No  architect  has  ever  yet  succeeded,  with  all  his 
appliances  and  practical  skill,  in  constructing  a  human 
hair— so  insignificant,  and  yet  so  full  of  wondrous  in- 
terest when  carefully  examined.  No  textile  artist, 
bringing  to  his  aid  every  invention  of  every  age,  can 
weave  such  a  fabric  as  covers  the  hand  which  writes 
these  words,  and  every  hand  which  may  turn  the 
pages  of  the  completed  book.  No  chemist,  however 
patiently  he  may  have  experimented,  or  however 
perfect  his  laboratory,  has  ever  yet  succeeded  in 
making  an  organic  liquid  the  exact  equivalent  of  any 
one  of  several  which  are  constantly  produced  within 
this  system.  No  combination  of  architects,  artists, 
and  chemists,  bringing  to  bear  upon  their  undertak- 
ing the  concentrated  thought  and  the  accumulated 
skill  of  all  the  sciences  of  all  the  centuries,  has  been 
able  to  construct  a  muscle  equivalent  to  the  most  in- 
significant of  the  five  hundred,  more  or  less,  which 
have  been  constructed,  and  are  daily  renewed,  through 
the  service  of  these  little  capillaries. 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  125 

The  bone  of   your  arm  is  broken.     No  surgeon, 
however  skillful,  can  repair  it.     He  can  "  set  "  it,  but 
he  will  not  engage  to  repair  it,  though  you  offer  him 
uncounted  gold.     He  knows  his  utter  inability  to  do 
more   than    to   give   nature  a  chance  to  work.     An 
unfortunate  slip  of  some  sharp-edged  tool   has  laid 
open  the  flesh  on  your  hand.     You  can  stanch  the 
blood,  and  bring  the  cut  surfaces  neatly  together,  and 
so  apply  adhesive  plaster  and  bandage  as  to  hold  them 
there,  but  you  cannot  heal  the  wound.     Now  behold 
the  superior  power  of  these  little  indwelling  repairers. 
As  the   blood  comes  coursing  along  through   the 
arteries  into  the  capillaries,  those  in  the  broken  bone 
say,  "  We  must  have  an  unusually  large  amount  of 
bone  material  to-day,  and  for  several   clays  to  come, 
since  we  have  not  only  the  usual  wear  to  replace,  but 
here  has  been  an  accident,  and  we  must  put  in  material 
to  fix  it  up."     And  in  due  time  they  commence  taking 
up  the  osteine  in  larger  quantity  than  usual,  and  the 
fracture  is  made  whole.     The  muscle  which  was  laid 
open   says  to   the   same   blood,  as  it  courses  around 
through   the  capillaries,  "Here;   my  fibers  are   sev- 
ered.    My  power  is  gone  because  my  lifters  are  cut 
in  twain ;  I  must  have  a  new  supply  of  musculine.', 
And  in  due  time  the  capillaries  go  to  work  and  take 
up  this  muscle-building  material  from  the  blood  and 
place  it  deftly  in  the  wound.     At  the  same  time  the 
skin  and  underlying  tissues  have  set  up  their  special 
claims,  and  been  made  as  good  as  new. 


126  Man  a  Kevelation  of  God. 

How  Las  it  all  come  about  ?  Why  did  not  the  mus- 
cle-producing material  find  a  lodgment  in  the  broken 
bone,  and  the  bone-producing  material  in  the  opened 
flesh  ?  These  capillaries  had  no  eyes  to  see  what  was 
needed  in  each  individual  situation.  And  yet,  no  cut 
finger  was  ever  healed  by  the  insertion  of  bony 
material.  No  "peeled  knuckle"  was  ever  covered 
over  with  muscular  tissue.  No  broken  bone  was 
ever  repaired  with  mucous  membrane.  Why  not? 
Why,  in  all  the  annals  of  surgery,  have  we  no  such 
case  recorded?  Let  the  denier  of  the  supernatural 
answer ! 

He  is  mute,  save  as  he  undertakes  to  shield  himself 
in  a  maze  of  meaningless  verbiage.  The  theist  hesi- 
tates not  to  say,  Because  the  All- wise  Creator  endowed 
these  little  vessels  with  marvelous  powers  of  adapta- 
tion and  set  them  to  perform  their  respective  func- 
tions without  any  supervision  from  man,  and  hence 
did  not  need  to  explain  the  how.  He  finds  herein 
such  a  revelation  of  God  that  his  faith  is  continually 
strengthened,  as  he  beholds  the  infinite  skill  of 
these  humble  servants  of  the  Divine  Builder.  While 
his  heart  is  warmed  his  mental  view  is  enlarged,  and 
he  gains  a  completer  conception  of  the  All-wise  de- 
signs manifested  forth  even  in  the  humblest  forms  of 
physical  structure. 

Let  us  now  briefly  consider  the  fourth  department 
of  the  circulatory  system  ;  the  veins.  Although  they 
have   not   the   surgical    importance   of   the   arteries, 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  127 

nor  the  constructive  power  of  the  capillaries,  their 
function  is  equally  important,  inasmuch  as,  unless 
it  he  properly  performed,  all  else  will  stop.  The 
blood  having  given  out  its  life-supporting  or  con- 
structive materials,  and  having  taken  up  certain 
worn-out  substances,  must  be  returned  to  the  cen- 
ter for  renewal.  For  this  return  the  veins  are 
provided. 

This  might  seem  a  comparatively  easy  task,  but 
when  the  various  hinderances  to  that  return  are  con- 
sidered, it  appears  a  most  difficult  one.  In  all  the 
lower  parts  of  the  body  gravity  is  to  be  overcome, 
and  in  many  situations  pressure  from  without,  and 
even  muscular  pressure,  would  tend  to  hinder  the 
return.  In  consequence  of  the  necessarily  slower 
movement  of  the  blood  through  the  veins  their  ag- 
gregate capacity  needed  to  be  greater,  and  we  find 
the  need  met  by  a  more  than  doubled  volume.  This 
is  the  first  element  of  adaptation  we  notice.  Then 
also,  the  veins  being  more  numerous,  and  having 
less  elasticity,  are  more  liable  to  temporary  closures 
than  the  arteries,  and  would  seem  to  demand  more 
frequent  intercommunication  in  order  to  permit  the 
continuous  inflow  of  the  blood.  This  demand  is 
fully  met,  not  only  by  a  much  greater  number  of 
communications,  but  by  actual  collateral  branches, 
thus  rendering  stoppage  from  pressure  or  disease 
practically  impossible. 

In  the  great  resisting  power  given  to  the  coatings 


128  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

of  the  veins  there  is  also  a  beautiful  evidence  of 
adaptation  to  actual  use,  as  well  as  to  emergencies 
which  are  constantly  arising.  We  would  naturally 
expect  that,  as  they  are  very  much  thinner  than  the 
arterial  coatings,  their  resistance  to  internal  pressure 
would  also  be  much  less.  But  it  has  been  found  by 
actual  experiment  that,  while  they  yield  readily  to 
external  pressure,  and  when  not  filled  become  at  once 
flattened  completely  together,  they  are  capable  of  re- 
sisting much  greater  pressure  tending  to  burst  them 
than  the  arteries,  with  their  elastic,  unyielding 
walls.  The  iliac  vein  of  a  sheep  resisted  a  pressure 
equivalent  to  over  sixty  pounds  to  the  square  inch. 
The  portal  vein  withstood  ninety  pounds  to  the 
square  inch,  while  the  vena  cava  was  not  ruptured 
when  a  pressure  of  a  hundred  and  seventy-six  pounds 
was  applied.  Well  did  the  Divine  Architect  know 
that  under  certain  circumstances  these  little  chan- 
nels would  be  subjected  to  immense  strain,  and 
that  the  bursting  of  one  of  them  would  prove  most 
serious;  and  so,  notwithstanding  their  pliancy  and 
apparent  resistlessness,  he  gave  to  them  a  texture 
which  seems  incredibly  powerful  to  resist  rupturing 
force. 

But  the  most  characteristic  and  striking  contriv- 
ance is  found  in  the  system  of  valves  that  exists  in 
every  vein,  of  any  considerable  size,  which  has  any 
force  of  gravity  to  overcome,  or  is  so  situated  as  to 
be  liable  to  any  special  obstruction.     These    valves 


In  His  PiiYsrcAL  Structure.  129 

are  little  delicate,  transparent,  pocket-shaped  folds 
of  membrane,  attached  by  their  convex  borders 
to  the  inside  of  the  vein,  but  having  their  concave 
borders  free,  and  turned  invariably  in  the  direction 
of  the  heart.  Two,  and  sometimes,  though  rarely, 
three,  of  these  valves  are  placed  opposite  each  other, 
at  certain  intervals,  along  a  vein.  When,  therefore, 
the  blood  is  passing  onward  through  such  a  vessel, 
the  valves  are  separated  from  one  another,  thrown 

.  back  against  the  inside  of  the  vein,  and  offer  no 
hindrance  to  the  moving  current.  But  when  any 
obstacle,  such  as  gravity,  external  pressure,  or  other 
resistance,  prevents  the  onward  movement  of  the 
blood,  or   tends   to   force    it    back   upon    the   capil- 

.  laries,  the  opposing  valves  quickly  meet  each  other 
across  the  middle  of  the  vein,  and  effectually  hinder 
any  backward  flow.  The  instant  that  the  obstruc- 
tion is  removed,  however,  the  arrested  blood 
moves  on. 

And  now,  although  only  a  very  brief  descriptive 
outline  has  been  given  of  a  few  of  the  wonderful 
structures  of  the  human  body,  and  their  beautiful 
adaptations  but  imperfectly  pointed  out,  I  am  per- 
suaded that  enough  has  been  suggested  to  lead  any 
unbiased  mind  not  only  to  the  fullest  belief  in  design, 
but  also  to  the  profoundest  admiration  for  the  more 
than  mortal  wisdom  herein  so  admirably  revealed. 
Were  it  not  for  protracting  this  chapter  beyond  its 
proper  limits.  T   should  greatly   enjoy  directing  the 


130  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

attention  of  the  reader  to  the  marvels  of  wisdom  dis- 
played in  the  eye,  in  its  setting,  its  lens,  its  coatings, 
its  appendages,  its  humors,  its  intricate  attachments, 
and  its  inimitable  adaptations ;  to  the  hand  and  foot, 
those  twin  wonders  of  beauty  and  of  use,  whose  in- 
tricacies of  construction  have  called  forth  in  their 
description  the  brilliant  powers  of  a  Fuller,  a  Galen, 
and  a  Sir  Charles  Bell ;  to  the  respiratory  system, 
which  in  some  respects  is  even  more  remarkable  than 
the  circulatory,  the  study  and  description  of  which 
have  enlisted  the  best  talent  of  the  most  advanced 
medical  science  without  exhausting  or  even  fathoming 
the  subject,  and  whose  wondrous  mechanism  grows 
more  wonderful  with  every  new  discovery;  to  the 
various  excretory  organs,  which,  though  but  partially  . 
understood,  are  literally  crowded  with  the  most 
manifest  evidences  of  adaptation  to  their  specific 
uses;  to  the  lymphatic  system,  of  which  even  more 
might  be  said  than  of  the  capillaries;  and  especially 
to  the  nervous  system.  A  whole  chapter  might 
well  be  given  to  it  alone.  Without  this  all  the 
other  systems  would  be  of  no  avail,  and  every 
member,  and  organ,  and  tissue  would  be  powerless. 
The  eye,  with  all  its  nice  adaptations,  could  not  see 
without  the  retinal  connection.  The  ear  could  not 
hear  a  sound,  were  not  the  delicate  filaments  of  the 
auditory  nerve  distributed  to  those  marvelous  piano- 
keys,  the  rods  of  Corti.  The  hand  could  not  act,  the 
tongue  could  not  taste,  the  lungs  could  not  expand, 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  131 

no  muscle  could  contract,  nay,  even  the  most  insignif- 
icant excretory  processes  of  the  body  could  not  be  car- 
ried on,  without  the  constant  assistance  of  the  nerves. 
Yet  what  are  they?  A  system  of  whitish  cords 
starting  out  from  the  brain  as  the  spinal  cord,  and 
sending  off  branches,  which  divide  and  subdivide 
until  the  most  insignificant  bone,  and  the  smallest 
papilla,  as  well  as  the  most  important  organ  of  the 
body,  is  supplied ;  an  intricate  and  interlacing  maze 
of  whitish  fibrous  tissue  connecting  every  part  with 
the  greyish  substance  of  the  brain,  largely  through 
the  same  greyish  substance  in  the  center  of  the  spinal 
cord.  The  most  powerful  microscope  has  not  re- 
vealed any  essential  difference  in  structure  between 
the  nerve  of  sight  and  the  nerve  of  hearing,  between 
that  of  touch  and  that  of  taste,  between  the  nerves 
of  special  sense  and  the  nerves  of  general  sensi- 
bility. The  most  searching  analysis  concludes  that 
the  constituent  elements  of  nerve  tissue  are  the 
same  in  all  situations.  Every  nerve  is  composed 
of  minute  nervous  filaments,  cylindrical  in  shape, 
varying  in  size,  and  running  in  a  direction  almost 
parallel  with  each  other.  In  the  spinal  cord  and 
the  brain  these  ultimate  filaments  are  smallest, 
having  an  average  diameter  of  one  ten-thou- 
sandth of  an  inch,  as  actually  measured  under  the 
microscope. 

Some  of  them   are  under  the  control  of  the  will, 
and  others  are  entirely  independent  of  its  influence ; 


132  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

and  yet,  as  before  stated,  they  cannot  be  distinguished 
from  one  another  by  any  sort  of  examination.  Now, 
although  we  cannot  enter  upon  a  description  of  the 
nervous  system,  however  brief,  the  reader  will  readily 
see,  from  these  few  hints,  that  its  intricacies  of 
structure  and  arrangement  far  transcend  all  finite 
powers.  Then  let  him  take  into  consideration  that, 
through  all  this  intricate  maze  of  ultimate  filament, 
and  branch,  and  ganglion,  and  trunk,  each  and  every 
individual  impression  is  carried  with  unfailing  accu- 
racy, so  that  we  never  mistake  taste  for  touch,  or  sight 
for  hearing ;  so  that  we  never  open  our  hand  when 
we  intend  to  shut  it,  or  lift  our  foot  when  we  intend 
to  put  it  down  ;  so  that  we  always  recognize  the  exact 
part  of  the  body  which  is  receiving  injury,  and  do  not 
defend  the  right  eye  when  the  left  is  endangered,  and 
he  cannot  fail  to  agree  with  the  writer  that  in  the 
nervous  system  alone,  were  there  no  other  sources  of 
illustration,  we  have  such  a  revelation  of  Infinite  Wis- 
dom as  cannot  be  gainsaid  by  the  most  pronounced 
infidels. 

And  when  we  look  upon  the  whole  body,  consid- 
ering not  merely  the  marvelous  structure  and  adapta- 
tion of  individual  organs  and  systems,  but  also  the 
harmonious  adjustment  of  all  the  parts,  we  behold 
such  a  revelation  as  cannot  be  obscured  by  the  wordy 
generalities,  miscalled  explanations,  of  the  most 
skillful  deniers  of  the  supernatural ;  such  a  revelation 
as  can  be  appreciated  by  the  humblest,  most  unlet- 


In  His  Physical  Structure.  133 

tered  observer,  and  at  the  same  time  can  afford  satis- 
faction to  the  greatest  intellects;  such  a  revelation  as 
tends  to  confound  the  skeptic,  while  it  strengthens 
the  faith  of  the  believer,  and  leads  him  to  exclaim, 
How  wonderful,  within  even  this  tenement  of  clay, 
are  the  manifestations  of  thy  Divine  Wisdom,  O  my 
Creator  and  my  Preserver ! 


"  Of  all  the  living  tenants  of  the  new-made  world  speech  was  given 
to  man  alone.'' — Wkewtll. 

'Speech    is    the    golden    harvest    that   followeth    the   flowering  of 

thought ; 
Speech  is  reason's  brother,  and  a  kingly  prerogative  of  man 
That  likeneth  him  to  his  Maker,  who  spake,  and  it  was  done." 

— Tupper. 

"Language  is  the  sensible  portraiture  or  image  of  the  mental 
process. " — Bacon. 

"  Speech  is  the  highest  species  of  action." — Zachos. 

"  Thought  in  the  mine  may  come  forth  gold  or  dross ; 

When  coined  in  word  we  know  its  real  worth: 

Speech  ventilates  our  intellectual  fire  ; 

Speech  burnishes  our  mental  magazine, 

Brightens  for  ornament  and  whets  for  use." —  Young. 

"  Language  is  the  close-fitting  dress  of  thought." — Trench. 

"  On  words,  on  quibbles,  if  you  please  to  call  distinctions  so,  rests 
the  axis  of  the  intellectual  world.  A  winged  word  hath  stuck  ine- 
radicably  in  a  million  hearts,  and  envenomed  every  hour  throughout 
their  hard  pulsation.  On  a  winged  word  hath  hung  the  destiny  of 
nations. " — Landor. 

"  For  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou 
shult  be  condemned." — Christ. 


In  His  Speech.  135 


CHAPTER   III. 
IN     HIS     SPEECH. 

The  task  to  which  the  writer  now  turns  is  not  that 
of  describing  the  organs  of  speech  and  drawing  there- 
from an  additional  illustration  of  the  divine.  This 
would  indeed  be  an  inviting  and  fruitful  theme;  but 
there  now  opens  before  us  the  consideration  of  that 
wider  problem  of  human  speech  which  involves  so 
many  questions  concerning  the  unity  or  diversity  of 
the  race,  the  origin  of  language,  the  divino-human 
character  of  articulate  speech,  and  kindred  inquiries. 

If  we  succeed  in  showing  that,  as  regards  human 
languages,  diversity  of  origin  has  never  yet  been 
proven,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  every  established 
philological  fact  at  least  seems  to  indicate  unity  of 
origin  ;  and  if,  in  addition  to  this,  we  succeed  in 
showing  that  no  other  creature,  however  nearly  he 
may  approach  man  in  the  scale  of  animal  being,  has 
yet  been  found  possessing  articulate  speech  as  man 
possesses  it;  and  if,  in  the  third  place,  we  satisfy 
candid  readers  that,  even  if  articulate  speech  has  been 
discovered,  evolved,  or  wrought  out  by  man,  he  never 
could  have  accomplished  it  had  he  not  been  given 
special  endowments  therefor,  we  shall  have  furnished 


136  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

an  additional  and  a  most  satisfying  revelation  of  God 
in  man — not,  indeed,  a  "  demonstration  of  God's  ex- 
istence," but  a  revelation  of  that  existence. 

This  inquiry  will  involve  a  somewhat  extended 
survey  of  the  science  of  language,  or  philology,  but 
we  cannot  presume  to  make  such  survey  exhaustive. 
Philology  as  a  science,  and  particularly  as  bearing 
upon  or  becoming  a  part  of  the  science  of  anthro- 
pology, has  come  into  great  prominence  during  the 
latter  half  of  the  present  century.  The  volumes  de- 
voted to  its  treatment  are  numerous,  and  in  many  in- 
stances exhaustive. 

The  writer  has  made  a  prolonged  and  thorough 
study  of  the  science,  and  would  be  gratified  were  it 
possible  to  give  sufficient  extracts  from  the  leading 
authorities  to  indicate  the  exact  position  of  each  ;  but 
his  space  will  not  permit  him,  except  in  a  few  in- 
stances, to  do  much  more  than  indicate  conclusions. 
"While  condensing  as  much  as  possible,  however,  he 
will  endeavor  to  give  sufficiently  extended  quotations 
to  be  just  to  the  authors  cited,  and  hopes  to  avoid  fall- 
ing into  obscurity  in  the  effort  to  be  brief. 

There  is  great  diversity  of  opinion  upon  many 
questions,  and  consequent  diversity  of  treatment.  Still, 
the  more  carefully  one  reads  between  the  lines,  and 
endeavors  to  get  at  the  real  intent  of  each  author's 
words,  stripped  of  all  glosses  and  good-natured  flings 
at  opposing  theories,  the  more  nearly  does  he  find 
them   approach    a   common    standing-ground    on    all 


In  His  Speech.  137 

fundamentals.  This  is  true  of  a  large  majority  of 
the  writers  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  read.  There 
are  a  few  who  are  diametrically  opposed  to  each 
other,  and  there  is  no  mistaking  the  meaning  of  their 
bristling  points  and  well-aimed  thrusts.  Much  of 
the  sharpest  antagonism  results  from  the  bearing  of 
this  science  upon  the  great  moral  and  spiritual  ques- 
tions which  confront  us.  This  gives  to  it  an  interest 
far  beyond  what  it  could  possibly  possess  were  there 
nothing  outside  of  the  abstract  questions  of  etymology 
and  syntax,  for  this  renders  every  thoughtful  man 
interested  in  its  investigation. 

SECTION    FIRST. 

We  enter  first  upon  an  inquiry  as  to  the  unity 
of  the  origin  of  languages.  I  certainly  do  not  un- 
dertake to  prove  a  common  origin  for  all  the  fam- 
ilies of  human  speech.  This  is  neither  necessary 
nor  desirable.  It  is  necessary  for  those  who  deny  a 
common  origin,  and  formulate  theories  resting  upon 
that  denial,  to  prove  diversity  of  origin  or  confess  the 
weakness  and  uncertainty  of  their  premises.  On  them 
rests  the  burden  of  proof.  Our  thesis,  as  stated  at 
the  opening  of  this  chapter,  is  sustained  if  we  show 
that  diversity  of  origin  has  never  yet  been  proved  ; 
but  that,  on  the  contrary,  every  established  philolog- 
ical fact  at  least  seems  to  indicate  unity  of  origin. 

The  human  mind  enjoys  positive  evidence.  But 
in  regard  to  many  of  the  most  important  questions  of 


138  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

e very-day  life,  as  well  as  of  philosophy,  it  must  con- 
tent itself  with  probable  evidence. 

If  this  be  true  in  regard  to  every-day  affairs,  how 
much  more  emphatically  true  is  it  of  those  inquiries 
which  reach  back  toward  the  origin  of  things,  and, 
peering  through  the  almost  limitless  darkness  beyond 
all  history,  endeavor  to  seize  upon  and  bring  forth 
some  satisfactory  answer. 

Much  perplexity  and  confusion  have  arisen,  con- 
cerning the  question  now  in  hand,  from  disregard  of 
this  simple  principle.  It  has  led,  on  the  one  hand,  to 
dogmatism,  to  the  asserting  of  premises  as  absolutely 
proven  which  have  been  only  negatively  established, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  disregard  and  even  the 
denial  of  those  facts  which  have  been  satisfactorily 
set  forth.  The  disputant  who  asserts  as  proven  that 
which  is  merely  indicated  betrays  his  weakness.  The 
more  stubbornly  he  asserts  it  the  worse  he  will  fare  at 
the  hands  of  a  skillful  opponent. 

It  would  be  gratifying  to  know  just  how  the  first 
talking  was  done — to  understand,  for  example,  how 
Adam  named  the  various  animals ;  but,  alas !  we  are 
not  informed.  No  proof  can  be  gathered  from  any 
records,  however  ancient.  The  Bible  is  our  earliest 
history ;  but  our  acceptance  of  the  Bible  as  the  in- 
fallible word  of  God  does  not  advance  us  at  all  toward 
historic  proof. 

In  this  we  are  told  that  God  "created  man  in  his 
own  image,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath 


In  His  Speech.  139 

of  life,"  but  we  are  not  told  exactly  in  what  this 
image  consisted.  We  are  told  that  the  first  man  was 
a  "son  of  God,"  but  are  not  told,  as  some  theologians 
teach  us,  that  God  gave  to  this  created  son  the  fully 
developed  language  of  later  times.  We  are  told  that 
God  brought  to  Adam  the  beasts  of  the  field  and 
fowls  of  the  air  "  to  see  what  he  would  call  them  : 
and  whatsoever  Adam  called  every  living  creature, 
that  was  the  name  thereof.  And  Adam  gave  names 
to  all  cattle,  and  to  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every 
beast  of  the  Held  ;"  but  we  are  not  told  that  Adam 
gave  them  the  same  names  which  they  now  bear, 
nor  are  we  informed  as  to  just  what  processes  he 
passed  through  in  the  naming.  And  yet  there  are 
many  well-instructed  students  of  the  Bible  who 
charge  us  with  infidelity  to  revelation  when  we  re- 
fuse-to  admit  that  which  revelation  nowhere  affirms; 
namely,  that  Adam  was  able  one  hour  after  his  crea- 
tion to  pronounce  words  equal  to  a  Chrysostom  or  a 
Webster. 

Such  believers  are  not  genuine  friends  of  revela- 
tion, for  they  heap  upon  it  burdens  which  it  was 
never  expected  to  bear.  By  demanding  too  much 
for  it  they  invalidate  its  genuine  claims.  On  the 
other  hand,  those  who  disregard  the  instruction  we 
really  do  possess  concerning  the  matter,  and  set  up 
the  claim  that  man  was  left  entirely  to  himself,  in  a 
state  of  absolute  mutism,  to  stumble  into  articulate 
speech  as  best  he  might,  get  into  such  a  maze  of  dif- 


140  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

ficulties  that  all  their  fine-spun  theories  amount  to 
only  so  much  verbiage. 

If,  then,  the  question  of  the  origin  of  language  can- 
not be  historically  answered,  neither  can  the  question 
of  its  unity  or  diversity  of  origin.  This  being  true,  it 
becomes  us  to  consider  the  various  languages  of  the 
present  time,  and  ascertain  whether  there  are  sufficient 
indications  of  a  common  origin  to  warrant  us  in  affirm- 
ing that  diversity  of  origin  has  never  yet  been  proven. 

The  method  of  procedure  is  very  simple  and 
straightforward.  It  is  a  method  upon  which  all 
classes  agree.  We  take  any  one  of  the  numerous 
dialects,  and,  choosing  some  word  in  common  use, 
enter  upon  an  analysis  thereof,  strip  it  of  its  inflec- 
tional endings,  and  seek  out  its  fundamental  root. 
This  root  will,  in  almost  every  instance,  be  found  to 
constitute  the  ground-meaning  of  several  other  words 
in  the  same  dialect,  and,  in  some  instances,  of  very 
many.  This  leads  to  the  grouping  around  that  par- 
ticular root  of  all  the  words  of  the  dialect  in  hand 
which  are  found  to  have  sprung  therefrom. 

Moreover,  there  will  be  found  in  this  root  the 
fundamental  meaning  of  words  in  some  other  dialect. 
The  next  step,  then,  is  to  take  up  that  second  dialect 
and  group  together  all  the  words  therein  which  have 
this  common  or  kindred  origin.  In  process  of  con- 
tinuing this  search,  and  grouping  of  words,  and  bring- 
ing in  of  new  dialects,  we  are  soon  carried  outside  of 
the  mere  dialectical  differences  found  in  the  same 


In  His  Speech.  141 

language,  and  discover  that  our  fundamental  root  has 
sent    its   offshoots   into   some   other  and  apparently 
quite  distinct  tongue.     Having  learned  this,  we  com- 
mence the  search  among  the  various  dialects  of  this 
second   language,   and  soon  have   a  greater  or   less 
number  of  them  grouped  around  the  same  common 
center-greater  or  less  number  according  as  the  lan- 
guage under  consideration  is  either  rich  or  poor  in  its 
dialectical  ramifications.     The  discovery  that  two  ap- 
parently quite  distinct  languages  are  thus  closely  al- 
lied leads  to  the  conclusion  that  they  perhaps  bad  a 
common  source,  and  prompts  us  to  continue  the  search 
into  yet  other  tongues.     Soon  our  search  is  rewarded 
by  finding  a  third  branch  from  the  primary  root. 
The  investigation  becomes  fascinating  in  the  extreme 
as  it  is  continued,  and  one  after  another  of  the  varied 
languages,  which   had   heretofore   seemed   separated 
as   widely   as   the   antipodes,   is    found    to   take  its 
place   in    the   family   group    and    establish    a   clear 

relationship. 

The  details  of  this  tracing  back  of  the  various  and 
multitudinous  dialects  are,  of  course,  too  voluminous 
to  be  here  given.  A  few  brief  references,  culled  here 
and  there,  must  suffice. 

For  example,  English  words  are  readily  traced  back 
to  their  Anglo-Saxon  origin.  Then  we  find  coming 
into  the  same  the  Low  German,  having  taken  up 
words  out  of  the  Dutch,  and  ultimately  we  find  our- 
selves in  possession  of  a  comparatively  few  funda- 


142  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

mental  roots,  out  of  which  there  seem  to  have 
sprung  all  the  German  and  Dutch  dialects,  all  Saxon, 
Frisian,  and  English  speech,  and  some  others  of  less 
note. 

As  we  pursue  this  inward  or  backward  move- 
ment, other  elements  seem  to  have  entered,  and,  trac- 
ing these  outward  again,  we  soon  take  on  the  Swed- 
ish, Danish,  Icelandic,  and  Norwegian  languages. 
In  the  same  manner,  if  we  take  the  Muscovite  and 
its  kindred  branches,  we  shall  find  coming  into  the 
same  root-meanings  elements  from  the  Polish  and  its 
allied  branches,  from  the  Bulgarian,  Servian,  Lithu- 
anian, etc.  ;  and  all  of  them  ultimately  appearing 
germinant  in  the  same  roots  as  the  multitude  of  dia- 
lects formed  from  our  English  starting-point.  Yet 
who  would  suspect  that  any  relationship  could  exist 
between  an  English  and  a  Polish  word,  much  less 
between  an  English  and  a  Servian! 

Moreover,  in  the  same  manner  we  trace  inward  and 
then  outward  words  from  the  Italian,  the  French, 
the  Spanish,  the  Gaelic,  the  Portuguese,  and  many 
others.  All  these  are  found  to  coalesce,  and  to  have 
root  meanings  in  common.  Then,  carrying  the  same 
process  farther,  we  find  these  numerous  branches, 
although  forming  a  great  multitude  of  dialects,  and 
even  distinct  languages,  yet  uniting  again  in  one  com- 
mon family.  For  many  years  the  union  seemed  to  be 
delayed.  There  was  a  large  class  of  languages  in  the 
Orient  which   appeared  to  stand  by  themselves,  to 


In  His  Speech.-  143 

refuse  to  confess  any  relationship — the  Bengali,  the 
Hindi,  the  Zingari,  the  Hindustani,  and  others.  But 
patient  investigators  continued  to  work  upon  the 
problem,  and  were  at  last  rewarded. 

I  have  said  that  philology,  as  a  science,  has  come 
into  special  prominence  only  during  the  last  half 
century,  but  it  had  its  seers  long  before.  As  early  as 
1776  Halhed  was  struck  with  the  similarity  of  Sanskrit 
to  Western  languages.  He  was  an  accurate  student 
of  many  languages,  and  wrote  a  grammar  of  the  Ben- 
gali, in  which  he  declares  himself  amazed  at  the 
*k  similarity  of  Sanskrit  words  to  those  of  Persian  and 
Arabic,  and  even  of  Latin  and  Greek;  and  these  not 
in  the  technical  and  metaphorical  terms,  which  the  mu- 
tation of  refined  arts  and  improved  manners  might 
have  occasionally  introduced,  but  in  the  main  ground- 
work of  the  language ;  in  monosyllables,  in  the  names 
of  numbers,  and  the  appellations  of  such  things  as 
would  be  first  distinguished  at  the  very  dawn  of  civ- 
ilization." * 

At  a  somewhat  later  period  Sir  William  Jones 
wrote  in  his  Asiatic  Researches  as  follows : 

"  The  Sanskrit  language,  whatever  may  be  its  an- 
tiquity, is  a  wonderful  structure,  more  perfect  than 
the  Greek,  more  copious  than  the  Latin,  and  more 
exquisitely  refined  than  either,  yet  bearing  to  both 
of  them  a  stronger  affinity,  both  in  the  routs  of 
verbs  and  in  the  forms  of  grammar,  than  could  have 

*  Grammar  of  Bengali,  by  N.  B.  Rallied,  Preface. 


144  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

been  produced  by  accident;  so  strong  that  no  philol- 
oger  could  examine  all  the  three  without  believing 
them  to  have  sprung  from  some  common  source 
which  perhaps  no  longer  exists.  There  is  a  similar 
reason  for  supposing  that  both  the  Gothic  and  the 
Celtic,  though  blended  with  a  different  idiom,  had 
the  same  origin  with  the  Sanskrit."  * 

This  declaration  now  sounds  like  a  prophecy,  as  we 
read  it  in  the  light  of  discoveries  made  since  it  was 
written,  and  after  having  looked  into  the  works  of 
Humboldt,  Bopp,  and  Schlegel,  and  the  admirable  San- 
skrit and  English  lexicon  of  Wilson.  Even  more  like 
a  revelation  does  it  appear  when  we  read  Schleicher, 
Victor  Egger,  MaxMuller,  Farrar,  and  Breal,  for 
the  unity  of  all  the  Aryan  languages  is  so  clearly 
shown  that  it  seems  almost  impossible  to  doubt  its 
reality. 

Many  of  these  writers  are  hostile  to  Christianity, 
and  take  no  pains  to  disguise  their  contempt  for  be- 
lievers in  the  inspiration  of  Scripture,  especially  of 
Genesis ;  and  yet  we  are  perfectly  willing  to  have 
them  help  us  in  the  indirect  defense  thereof.  I 
take  unusual  pleasure  in  quoting  the  following  from 
Farrar  in  regard  to  the  numerous  families  of  Aryan 
speech  : 

"  There  is  in  all  these  languages  a  marked  simi- 
larity of  grammatical  structure.  Every  one  of  them 
is  strictly  inflectional,  and  their  inflections,  whether 

*  Asiatic  Researches,  by  Sir  William  Jones,  i,  422. 


In  His  Speech.  145 

they  still  continue  to  be  numerous,  or  whether  (as  is 
the  case  with  English)  they  have  dwindled  down  to  a 
very  few,  are  all  formed  on  the  same  method,  and 
may  all  be  demonstrably  traced  to  the  same  original 
forms.  .  .  . 

"  This  similarity  of  grammatical  structure  in  all 
Aryan  languages  is  accompanied  by  an  ultimate  iden- 
tity in  the  vast  majority  of  roots. 

"  It  is  now  a  matter  of  simple  notoriety  that  not 
merely  in  sounds  and  letters,  but  in  fundamental 
radical  structure,  and  not  only  in  words  which  might 
conceivably  have  been  borrowed  from  obvious  natural 
sounds,  but  in  words  deduced  through  a  long  series 
of  imaginative  metaphors  or  fanciful  analogies,  the 
vocabulary  of  any  single  Aryan  language,  in  spite  of 
the  effacing  influences  of  time  and  the  disturbing 
elements  of  foreign  admixture,  stands  in  a  very  close 
relation  to  the  vocabularies  of  all  the  rest.  The  nu- 
merals, the  pronouns,  the  most  ordinary  and  essential 
verbs,  the  words  for  all  the  commonest  relationships, 
for  the  parts  of  the  body,  for  nearly  all  the  domestic 
animals,  for  the  most  necessary  cereals  and  the  most 
familiar  metals,  are  substantially  the  same  in  all  the 
languages  of  this  great  family.  That  such  is  the  fact 
may  be  seen  by  any  one  who  will  take  the  trouble  to 
examine  a  few  comparative  lists  ;  but  it  may  be  more 
interesting  to  observe  that  even  when  the  words  in 
several  branches  are  different  the  roots  of  them  all 

are  to  be  found  in  the  family  possession,  and  that  very 

7 


146  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

often  when  the  words  are  as  absolutely  unlike  each 
other  as  they  can  possibly  be  they  can  yet  be  deduced, 
through  easy  stages  of  differentiation,  from  a  common 
original  stock.  .  .  . 

"  Since,  then,  the  same  grammatical  principles,  the 
same  laws  of  structure,  dominate  throughout  the 
Aryan  languages,  and  since  even  when  their  apparent 
differences  are  most  obvious  it  may  yet  be  proved 
that  there  is  a  complete  identity  in  their  main  roots, 
there  can  be  no  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  the  many 
peoples — including  all  the  most  powerful  and  the 
most  celebrated  which  the  world  has  ever  seen  — 
sprang  within  an  almost  historical  period  from  one 
common  stock.  The  epoch  of  their  migrations 
from  their  common  home  cannot  be  determined 
with  any  certainty,  but  possibly  it  may  not  have 
been  earlier  than  2000  B.  C.  The  most  ancient 
name  by  which  they  called  themselves,  or  rather 
the  most  ancient  name  of  this  race  with  which 
we  are  acquainted,  was  the  name  Aryas,  a  name 
derived  from  the  root  ar,  to  plow,  and  which  there- 
fore implied  originally  an  agricultural  as  distin- 
guished from  a  rude  and  nomadic  race,  and  thus  nat- 
urally came  to  mean  'noble.'  It  is  true  that  this 
name  belonged  distinctly  to  the  two  great  eastern 
branches  of  this  family — the  Iranian  and  Indian  ;  but 
as  they  lingered  the  longest  in  the  region  of  the 
primitive  home,  they  are  most  likely  to  have  retained 
the  original  name,  and  not  only  are  traces  of  the  same 


In  His  Speech.  147 

root  to  be  found  abundantly  in  the  other  families  of 
the  race,  but  it  is  even  believed  that  the  beloved  and 
familiar  name  of  Erin  is  a  far-off  western  echo  of  this 
primeval  designation.  As  the  name  Indo-Germanic, 
which  was  originally  proposed,  is  obviously  too  nar- 
row and  exclusive,  and  as  Indo-European,  which  con- 
veniently represents  them  by  geographical  area,  is 
also  too  narrow  for  the  universal  and  growing  colo- 
nies which  this  race  has  founded  even  in  the  remotest 
islands  of  the  Pacific,  it  is  clear  that  Aryan  remains 
at  present  the  best  name  by  which  to  call  them. 
Their  original  home  may  be  assigned  by  a  multitude 
of  concurrent  probabilities.  That  it  was  somewhere 
in  the  vast  plateau  of  Iran,  in  the  immense  quadri- 
lateral which  extends  from  the  Indus  to  the  Euphra- 
tes, and  from  the  Oxus  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  may  be 
assumed  as  almost  certain."  * 

In  confirmation  of  this  last  thought,  and  in  further 
extension  of  the  same,  I  refer  to  two  volumes  by 
Louis  Figuier;  one  entitled  Primitive  Man,  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1870,  the  other  entitled  The 
Human  Race,  published  in  New  York  in  1S72. 
The  former  is  a  work  which  marks  the  author  as  a 
man  of  large  learning,  and  at  the  same  time  as  one 
who  refuses  to  accept  the  Bible  account  of  creation, 
taking,  as  he  does,  the  strongest  possible  ground  for 
the  great  antiquity  of  the  human  race,  saying,  "  The 
mind  recoils  dismayed  when  it  undertakes  the  com- 
*  Language  and  Languages,  by  F.  W.  Farrar,  p.  310,  et  seq. 


liS  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

pntation  of  the  thousands  of  years  which  have  elapsed 
since  the  creation  of  man." 

The  latter  is  one  of  the  most  comprehensive  exam- 
inations extant  of  the  various  races  of  men ;  and, 
looked  upon  in  the  light  of  the  previous  volume,  his 
conclusions  in  regard  to  the  unity  of  the  human  spe- 
cies, and  the  primary  oneness  of  all  languages,  and 
his  strong  assertion  of  the  correctness  of  the  Bible  in 
regard  to  the  place  of  man's  creation  and  the  fact  of 
his  creation  by  God,  have  great  weight.     He  says : 

"  We  think  that  man  had  on  the  globe  one  center 
of  creation ;  that,  fixed  in  the  first  instance  in  a  par- 
ticular region,  he  has  radiated  in  every  direction 
from  that  point,  and  by  his  wanderings,  coupled  with 
the  rapid  multiplication  of  his  descendants,  he  has  ulti- 
mately peopled  all  the  inhabitable  regions  of  the  earth. 

"Around  the  central  table-land  of  Asia  we  find  not 
only  the  three  fundamental  types  of  the  human  spe- 
cies, but  the  three  types  of  human  speech.  Does  not 
this,  therefore,  afford  ground  for  presumption,  if  not 
actual  proof,  that  man  first  appeared  in  this  very 
region,  which  Scripture  assigns  as  the  birthplace  of 
the  human  race?"* 

It  is  very  cheering  to  the  Christian  student  to  find 
such  substantial  help  in  the  writings  of  those  from 
whom  he  has  no  right  to  expect  it.  It  is  equally  satis- 
factory to  find  that  those  who  accept  revelation  as  we 
have  it  are  masters  of  the  situation,  and  capable  of 

*  The  Human  Bace,  by  Louis  Figuier,  pp.  6,  9. 


In  His  Speech.  149 

bringing  forth  as  rich  treasures  from  the  fields  of  sci- 
entitle  research  as  any  of  those  who  refuse  to  accept  it. 
Dr.  Daniel  Wilson's  work  on  Prehistoric  Man,  in  two 
octavo  volumes  of  four  hundred  pages  each,  devoted  es- 
pecially to  the  races  of  North  America,  throws  the  whole 
weight  of  his  influence  on  the  side  of  a  common  center 
of  origin  for  all  the  multitudinous  dialects  and  almost 
innumerable  ramifications  of  human  speech.  He  says: 
"  In  the  wondrous  ramifications  of  language  from  a 
common  center,  it  is  difficult  to  limit  the  compass  of 
its  influences.  "When  we  And  not  only  in  the  Muruya 
dialect  of  Australia  papute,  and  among  the  Maories 
of  New  Zealand  the  simpler  pa  for  father,  and  then 
recognize  that  among  specimens  of  thirty  different 
languages  of  the  Malay  archipelago  given  by  Mr.  A. 
E.  Wallace,  by  far  the  larger  number  are  variations 
of  the  Malay  bdpa,  father,  and  ma,  mother,  and  that 
the  name  re-appears  in  Polynesian  vocabularies,  it  is 
seen  to  be  a  possible  thing  that  the  Sanskrit,  the 
Malay,  the  Tarawa,  and  even  the  Muruya,  pa  and 
ma  may,  after  all,  have  come  independently  from  a 
common  source.  The  Romans  used  mamma  for  the 
mother's  breast.  The  Hindu  and  Persian  ma  bears 
the  same  signification ;  and  wherever  Aryan  influ- 
ence has  prevailed  the  familiar  roots  re-appear.  But 
they  do  also  among  the  Tlatskani  of  Athabaska,  the 
Tahalics  of  British  Columbia,  and  many  others  of  the 
savage  tribes  of  the  New  World."  ** 

*  Prehistoric  Man,  by  Daniel  Wilson. 


150  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  giving  one  more  illustra- 
tion of  the  substantial  harmony  of  dialects  apparently 
the  most  diverse,  and  the  origin  from  a  common 
root  of  words  which  have  little  or  no  apparent 
affinity.  Let  the  reader  take  notice  that  the  following 
long  quotation  is  concerning  a  single  root  of  four 
letters : 

"  Let  us  take  the  word  respectable.  It  is  a  word  of 
Latin,  not  of  Saxon,  origin,  as  we  see  by  the  termi- 
nation able.  In  resj?ectabiliswe  easily  distinguish  the 
verb  respectare,  and  the  termination  bills.  We  then 
separate  the  prefix  re,  which  leaves  speetare,  and  we 
trace  speetare  as  a  participial  formation  back  to  the 
Latin  verb  spicere  or  specere,  meaning  to  see,  to 
look.  In  specere,  again,  we  distinguish  between  the 
changeable  termination  ere  and  the  unchangeable 
remnant  spec,  which  we  call  the  root.  This  root 
we  expect  to  find  in  Sanskrit  and  the  other  Aryan 
languages;  and  so  we  do.  In  Sanskrit  the  more 
usual  form  is  pas,  to -see,  without  the  s;  but  spas 
also  is  found  in  spaSa,  a  spy,  in  spashta  (in  vi-spashta), 
clear,  manifest,  and  in  the  Yedic  spas,  a  guardian. 
In  the  Teutonic  family  we  find  sp'ehdn  in  Old  High- 
German  meaning  to  look,  to  spy,  to  contemplate ; 
and  speha,  the  English  spy.  In  Greek,  the  root  spek 
has  been  changed  into  skep,  which  exists  in  skeptomal, 
I  look,  I  examine ;  from  whence  skeptlkos,  an  exam- 
iner or  inquirer,  or,  in  theological  language,  a  skep- 
tic ;    and  episkopos,  an  overseer,  a   bishop.     Let  us 


In  His  Speech.  15  L 

now  examine  the  various  ramifications  of  this  root. 
Beginning  with  respectable,  we  found  that  it  origi- 
nally meant  a  person  who  deserves  respect,  respect 
meaning  looking  back.  We  pass  by  common  objects 
or  persons  without  noticing  them,  whereas  we  turn 
back  to  look  again  at  those  which  deserve  our  admi- 
ration, our  regard,  our  respect.  This  was  the  original- 
meaning  of  respect  and  respectable,  nor  need  we  be 
surprised  at  this,  if  we  consider  that  noble,  nobilis  in 
Latin,  conveyed  originally  no  more  than  the  idea  of  a 
person  that  deserves  to  be  known ;  for  nobilis  stands 
for  g  nobilis,  just  as  nomen  stands  for  gnomen,  or 
natus  for  gnatus*  'With  respect  to'  has  now  be- 
come almost  a  mere  preposition.  For  if  we  say, 
i  With  respect  to  this  point  I  have  no  more  to  say,' 
this  is  the  same  as  '  I  have  no  more  to  say  on  this 
point,'  Again,  as  in  looking  back  we  single  out  a 
person,  the  adjective  respective  and  the  adverb  re- 
spectively are  used  almost  in  the  same  sense  as  special, 
or  singly. 

"  The  English  respite  is  the  Norman  modification 
of  respect  us,  the  French  rep  it.  Rep  it  meant  origi- 
nally looking  back,  reviewing  the  whole  evidence. 
A  criminal  received  so  many  days  ad  respectum,  to 
re-examine  the  case.  Afterward  it  was  said  that  the 
prisoner  had  received  a  respite,  that  is  to  say,  had  ob- 
tained a  re-examination ;  and  at  last  a  verb  was 
formed,  and  it  was  said  that  a  person  had  been 
respited. 


152  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

"  As  specere,  to  see,  with  the  preposition  re,  came 
to  mean  respect,  so  with  the  preposition  de,  down, 
it  forms  the  Latin  despicere,  meaning  to  look  down, 
the  English  despise.  The  French  depit  (Old  French 
despit)  means  no  longer  contempt,  though  it  is  the 
Latin  despectus,  but  rather  anger,  vexation.  Se  de- 
.piter  is  to  be  vexed,  to  fret.  En  depit  de  lui  is 
originally 'angry  with  him,' then  'in  spite  of  him;' 
and  the  English  spite,  in  spite  of,  spiteful,  are 
mere  abbreviations  of  despite,  in  despite  of,  despite- 
ful, and  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  spit- 
ting of  cats. 

"  As  de  means  down  from  above,  so  sub  means  up 
from  below,  and  this  added  to  specere,  to  look,  gives 
us  suspicere,  suspicari,  to  look  up,  in  the  sense  of  to 
suspect.  From  it  suspicion,  suspicious  •  and  like- 
wise the  French  soupgon,  even  in  such  phrases 
as  'There  is  a  soupgon  of  chicory  in  this  coffee,' 
meaning  just  a  touch,  just  the  smallest  atom  of 
chicory. 

"  As  circum  means  round  about,  so  circumspect 
means,  of  course,  cautious,  careful.  With  in,  mean- 
ing into,  specere  forms  inspicere,  to  inspect ;  hence 
inspector,  inspection.  With  ad,  meaning  towards, 
specere  becomes  adspicere,  to  look  at  a  tiling.  Hence 
adspectus,  the  aspect,  the  look,  or  appearance  of 
things.  So  with^>?'0,  meaning  forward,  specere  be- 
came  jirospicere ;  and  gave  rise  to  such  words  as 
prospectus,   as  it  were  a  look-out,  prospective,  etc. 


In  His  Speech.  153 

"With  con,  meaning  with,  spicere  forms  conspicere, 
to  see  together,  conspectus,  conspicuous.  We  saw 
before,  in  respectable,  that  a  new  word,  spectare,  is 
formed  from  the  participle  of  spicere.  This,  with 
the  preposition  ex,  out,  gives  us  the  Latin  expectare, 
the  English  to  expect,  to  look  out;  with  its  deriva- 
tives. 

"  Auspicious  is  another  word  which  contains  our 
root  as  the  second  of  its  component  elements.  The 
Latin  auspicium  stands  for  avispicium,  and  meant 
the  looking  out  for  certain  birds  which  were  consid- 
ered to  be  of  good  or  bad  omen  to  the  success  of  any 
public  or  private  act.  Hence  auspicious,  in  the  sense 
of  lucky.  Haru-spex  was  the  name  given  to  a  per- 
son who  foretold  the  future  from  the  inspection  of 
the  entrails  of  animals. 

"  Again,  from  specere,  speculum,  was  formed,  in  the 
sense  of  looking-glass,  or  any  other  means  of  looking 
at  one's  self;  and  from  it  speculari,  the  English  to 
speculate,  speculative,  etc. 

"But  there  are  many  more  offshoots  of  this  one 
root.  Thus  the  Latin  speculum — looking-glass — be- 
came specchio  in  Italian  ;  and  the  same  word,  though  in 
a  round-about  way,  came  into  French  as  the  adjective 
espiegle,  waggish.  The  origin  of  this  French  word  is 
curious.  There  exists  in  German  a  famous  cycle  of 
stories,  mostly  tricks,  played  by  a  half-historical,  half- 
mythical  character  of  the  name  of  Eulenspiegd,  or 
Owl-glass,    These  stories  were  translated  into  French, 


151  Max  a   Revelation  of  God. 

and  the  hero  was  known  at  first  by  the  name  of 
Ulespiegel,  which  name,  contracted  afterwards  into 
Espiegle,  became  a  general  name  for  every  wag.  As 
the  French  borrowed  not  only  from  Latin,  but  like- 
wise from  the  Teutonic  languages,  we  meet  there,  side 
by  side  with  the  derivatives  of  the  Latin  specere,  the 
Old  High  German  spehon,  slightly  disguised  as  Spier, 
to  spy,  the  Italian  spiare.  The  German  word  for  a 
spy  was  speha,  and  this  appears  in  Old  French  as 
espie,  in  modern  French  as  espion. 

"  One  of  the  most  prolific  branches  of  the  same  root 
is  the  Latin  species.  Whether  we  take  species  in  the 
sense  of  a  perennial  succession  of  similar  individuals 
in  continual  generations,  or  look  upon  it  as  existing 
only  as  a  category  of  thought,  species  was  intended 
originally  as  the  literal  translation  of  the  Greek  eidos 
as  opposed  to  genos  or  genus.  The  Greeks  classified 
things  originally  according  to  hind  and  form,  and 
though  these  terms  were  afterwards  technically  de- 
fined by  Aristotle,  their  etymological  meaning  is  in 
reality  the  most  appropriate.  Things  may  be  classi- 
fied because  they  are  of  the  same  genus  or  'kind — that 
is  to  say,  because  they  had  the  same  origin  ;  this 
gives  us  a  genealogical  classification  ;  or  they  can  be 
classified  because  they  have  the  same  appearance, 
eidos,  or  form,  without  claiming  for  them  a  common 
origin,  and  this  gives  us  a  morphological  classification. 
It  was,  however,  in  the  Aristotelian,  and  not  in  its 
etymological  sense,  that  the  Greek  eidos  was  rendered 


In  His  Speech.  155 

in  Latin  by  species,  meaning  the  subdivision  of  a 
genus,  the  class  of  a  family.  Hence  the  French 
espece,  a  kind  ;  the  English  special,  in  the  sense  of 
particular  as  opposed  to  general.  There  is  little  of 
the  root  spas,  to  see,  left  in  a  special  train,  or  a  spe- 
cial messenger ;  yet  the  connection,  though  not  ap- 
parent, can  be  restored  with  perfect  certainty.  We 
frequently  hear  the  expression  to  specify.  A  man 
specifies  his  grievances.  What  does  it  mean  ?  The 
mediaeval  Latin  specificus  is  a  literal  translation  of  the 
Greek  eidopoios.  This  means  what  makes  or  consti- 
tutes an  eidos  or  species.  Now,  in  classification,  what 
constitutes  a  species  is  that  particular  quality  which, 
superadded  to  other  qualities,  shared  in  common  by 
ail  the  members  of  a  genus,  distinguishes  one  class 
from  ail  other  classes.  Thus  the  specific  character 
which  distinguishes  man  from  all  other  animals  is 
reason  or  language.  Specific,  therefore,  assumed  the 
sense  of  distinguishing  or  distinct,  and  the  verb  to 
specify  conveyed  the  meaning  of  enumerating  dis- 
tinctly, or  one  by  one.  I  finish  with  the  French 
epicier,  a  respectable  grocer,  but  originally  a  man 
who  sold  drugs.  The  different  kinds  of  drugs  which 
the  apothecary  had  to  sell  were  spoken  of,  with  a  cer- 
tain learned  air,  as  species ;  not  as  drugs  in  general, 
but  as  peculiar  drugs  and  special  medicines.  Hence 
the  chymist  or  apothecary  is  still  called  speziole  in 
Italian,  his  shop  spezieria.  In  French,  species,  which 
regularly  became  espece,  assumed  a  new  form  to  ox- 


150  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

press  drugs,  namely,  Spices  /  the  English  spices,  the 
German  spezereien.  Hence  the  famous  pahi  $  Spices, 
gingerbread  nuts,  and  Spicier,  a  grocer.  If  you  try 
for  a  moment  to  trace  spicy,  or  a  well-spiced  article, 
back  to  the  simple  root  specere,  to  look,  you  will  un- 
derstand that  marvelous  power  of  language  which  out 
of  a  few  simple  elements  has  created  a  variety  of 
names  hardly  surpassed  by  the  unbounded  variety  of 
nature  herself.  I  say  'out  of  a  few  simple  ele- 
ments,' for  the  number  of  what  we  call  full  predica- 
tive roots,  such  as  or,  to  plow,  or  spas,  to  look,  is 
indeed  small."  * 

I  think  there  can  remain  little  doubt  in  the  mind 
of  the  reader  that  every  one  of  the  numerous  dia- 
lects and  languages  commonly  designated  as  Indo- 
European  can  be  traced  to  a  common  source.  Ex- 
amples such  as  have  been  given  might  be  multi- 
plied almost  indefinitely,  were  it  not  for  wearying 
the  mind  with  a  repetition  of  that  which  possesses 
the  same  general  characteristics.  I  do  not  claim 
to  have  proved  that  they  all  did  actually  have  a 
common  origin,  but  simply  that  every  indication 
points  that  way.  This  is  all  that  was  attempted,  and 
all  that  any  fair-minded  inquirer  demands.  It  rests 
with  our  opponents — with  those  who  contend  for  a 
diversity  of  sources — to  prove  the  indications  and 
probabilities  which  have  been  pointed  out  to  be  false 
or  groundless.     This  they  have  not  done.     I  am  not 

*  Science  of  Language,  p.  256. 


In  His  Speech.  157 

aware  that  any  of  them  have  had  the  temerity  to 
even  attempt  it.  Some  have  raised  objections  to  cer- 
tain details,  but  they  have  amounted  to  very  little. 
The  whole  process  of  tracing  backward,  and  outward, 
and  seeking  vital  connections,  is  so  natural  that  it  com- 
mends itself  at  once  to  every  candid  mind.  It  is  al- 
most as  natural  as  starting  at  some  small  twig  on  one 
side  of  a  great  tree  and  tracing  it  inward  until  it  is 
found  connected  with  some  other  twig,  and  then  fol- 
lowing these  on  inward  to  still  others,  until  combined 
they  become  a  branch  out  of  which  proceed  other 
twigs,  which  may  appear  very  different,  but  which 
have  the  same  kind  of  wood,  and  are  fed  by  the  same 
sap,  which  branch,  still  further  inward,  unites  with 
others,  all  together  at  last  forming  the  sturdy  trunk, 
and  terminating  in  a  common  root. 

If,  now,  we  take  any  one  of  the  Old  Testament 
words,  any  Hebraic  word,  and  trace  it  back  in  the 
same  manner,  we  shall  find  it  approaching  in  forma- 
tion other  words  of  the  same  general  speech,  in  much 
the  same  way  as  did  the  English  word  we  first  in- 
stanced in  the  beginning  of  this  inquiry.  The  trac- 
ing is  not  as  easy  as  in  the  former  instance,  but  this 
is  not  surprising  to  any  one  at  all  acquainted  with 
language  study  and  language  modifications.  The 
reasons  for  the  difficulty  are  numerous.  The  path 
over  which  we  are  traveling  is  a  very  old  path,  and 
greatly  obscured  by  the  accumulations  of  thousands 
of  years.     The  words  we  are  handling  are  unfamiliar 


15 S  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

and  strange-looking  at  the  best,  no  matter  how  faith- 
fully or  long  we  have  studied  them.  The  language  is 
emphatically  a  dead  language.  And  yet  we  find 
every  indication  of  the  Hebraic  branch  uniting  with 
the  Aramaic ;  for,  as  we  follow  out  this  branch,  its 
characteristics  extend  to  every  Aramaic  dialect  of 
which  we  possess  any  certain  knowledge. 

The  Syriac  and  the  Chaldee  are  the  principal  off- 
shoots of  this  branch.  The  language  of  Syria  and  Meso- 
potamia, of  portions  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  is  cer- 
tainly full  of  interest.  It  is  nowhere  spoken  in  its 
original  form  to  any  great  extent,  but  it  is  preserved 
in  the  literature  of  these  lands  ;  in  a  translation  of  the 
Bible  called  the  Peshito,  and  also  in  the  Targmns, 
those  most  singular  and  yet  very  valuable  paraphrases 
of  the  Bible.  But  most  valuable  of  all  are  the  cunei- 
form inscriptions  which  have  been  found  in  such 
abundance  at  Nineveh  and  Babylon.  For  many  years 
these  inscriptions  seemed  to  baffle  all  attempts  at  deci- 
phering, but  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  succeeded  with 
some  of  them  nearly  a  half  century  ago,  and  ever 
since  that  time  the  work  has  been  going  on  with  grati- 
fying success,  so  that  we  possess  in  these  a  rich  fund 
of  philological  resources,  as  well  as  evidential.  Every 
reader  of  George  Rawlinson's  Historical  Evidences, 
and  other  kindred  writings  of  more  recent  date,  must 
have  been  impressed  with  this  fact. 

As  these  two  branches  are  found  to  unite,  we 
see  the  Arabic  coming  into  this  family.     In  fact,  the 


In  His  Speech.  159 

Arabic  forms  the  greater  part  of  the  Semitic  tree  at 
the  present  clay.  It  seems  to  possess  something  of  the 
aggressive,  absorbing  power  of  the  English  language. 
It  is  a  matter  of  current  remark  that  wherever  the  En- 
glish language  gets  a  footing  it  either  absorbs  or  pushes 
out  every  other  language.  This  seems  to  be  the 
nature  of  the  Arabic.  In  the  extensive  conquests  of 
Mohammedanism,  during  the  sixth  and  seventh  centu- 
ries, it  played  an  important  part.  It  soon  became  the 
language  of  the  countries  bordering  on  Arabia,  and 
also  the  literary  language  of  Palestine,  Cyprus,  and 
Egypt ;  and,  through  the  power  of  Mohammed,  and 
the  extensive  influence  of  the  Koran,  it  absolutely 
displaced  many  of  the  dialects  of  Africa,  and  made  a 
home  for  itself  in  many  parts  of  Asia,  and  even  in 
some  European  countries,  for  example,  Spain  and 
Sicily.  As  a  spoken  language,  it  possesses  great 
vigor  and  terseness,  while,  as  a  written  language,  the 
fullness  and  variety  of  its  grammatical  forms,  and 
the  versatility  of  its  conjugations,  render  it  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  skillful  presentation  of  any  and  all 
subjects. 

It  is  a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  trace  every 
dialect,  and  every  minute  ramification  of  this  lan- 
guage, back  to  the  two  ancient  dialects,  the  Ilim- 
ya/ritic  and  the  Koreishttic,  and  these  are  readily 
found  to  be  allied  to  the  other  two  great  branches 
above  mentioned ;  namely,  the  Hebrew  and  the 
Aramaic. 


100  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

Thus,  then,  we  have  another  language  tree, 
another  family  of  languages,  clearly  made  out ; 
not  with  the  fullness  of  illustration  and  amplitude 
of  details  with  which  the  Aryan  family  was  traced, 
nor  yet  with  quite  the  unanimity  of  opinion  among 
philologists,  on  all  points,  that  was  there  found  to 
exist,  but  with  sufficient  fullness,  and  such  substan- 
tial accord  as  to  give  the  Semitic  family  an  undis- 
puted place  alongside  the  Aryan.  Here  we  have, 
then,  these  two  clearly  defined  language  families  or 
language  trees.  They  are  so  clearly  defined  that 
there  is  no  mistaking  the  one  for  the  other.  And 
yet  the  two  trees  which  appear  so  unlike  in  trunks 
and  branches,  and  even  in  their  minutest  twigs,  and 
which  disappear  beneath  the  surface  as  perfectly  sep- 
arated trunks,  may,  after  all,  unite  their  roots 
together.  Indeed,  we  have  far  greater  reason  to  con- 
clude that  they  do  than  that  they  do  not.  Compari- 
sons between  fundamental  roots,  or  root  forms,  of  the 
two  languages  have  been  instituted  by  many  eminent 
philologists,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  constituent  elements  which  have  entered  into  each 
family  or  tree  are  the  same ;  that  the  basal  forms  are 
identical. 

But  there  is  another  and  a  more  perplexing  prob- 
lem yet  before  us.  Even  though  the  indications 
plainly  point  to  a  common  source  for  all  the  mem- 
bers of  these  two  families,  there  yet  remain  uncon- 
sidered  the  almost  innumerable   dialects   spoken   l>y 


In  His  Speech.  1G1 

the  tribes  and  peoples  inhabiting  the  larger  part  of 
the  habitable  globe.  This  greatly  complicates  our 
study,  and  yet  I  believe  the  results  may  be  made  at 
least  measurably  satisfactory. 

The  languages  of  the  two  families  thus  far  consid- 
ered  have  usually  been  termed  "  organic  "  or  "  amal- 
gamating." They  represent  the  highest  type  of 
speech,  wherein  the  fundamental  roots,  or  basal 
forms,  have  so  united  in  the  formation  of  individual 
words  as  to  lose  their  separate  identity,  or  at  least,  so 
as  to  lose  it  in  great  measure.  In  consequence  of 
this  assimilation  of  roots  and  root  forms  we,  by  and 
by,  have  a  language  built  up  which  is  full  of  inflec- 
tions and  conjugations.  This  we  have  noted  con- 
cerning the  Semitic  family,  and  found  it  even  more 
emphatically  true  of  the  Aryan. 

This  highest  type  of  language,  represented  in  the 
Semitic  and  the  Aryan,  seems  to  have  supervened 
upon  what  has  been  termed  an  "agglutinative"  stage. 
"We  find  all  through  philological  treatises  the  terms 
"agglutinative  languages,"  "process  of  agglutina- 
tion," etc.  This  is  an  apt  designation,  having  for  its 
root,  as  is  readily  seen,  our  word  "  glue,"  and  the 
terms  are  applied  to  that  type,  or  stage,  in  language, 
wherein  the  fundamental  roots,  or  root  forms,  have 
not  yet  reached  the  more  perfect  inflectional  type, 
where,  the  roots  having  become  perfectly  assimilated, 
the  changes  of  meaning  are  indicated  by  inflections  ; 
but  where  these  roots  seem  simply  to  have  "  stuck 


162  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

together,"  each  retaining  in  some  sense  its  individu- 
ality, while  giving  up  something  of  itself  to  the  other, 
and  so  making  a  new  word  with  a  modified  meaning. 
Every  language  between  the  primitive  root  type  and 
the  perfected  inflectional  type  partakes  of  this  char- 
acter, and  may  properly  come  under  the  designation 
"  agglutinative." 

As  before  stated,  the  languages  spoken  by  the 
peoples  spread  over  the  widest  extent  of  territory  are 
in  this  stage,  and  they  constitute  by  far  the  largest 
number.  These  peoples  are  the  wandering,  nomadic 
clans  and  tribes  of  Europe  and  Asia. 

The  name  commonly  given  to  all  these  "  agglutina- 
tive "  dialects  is  "  Turanian,"  and  I  shall  speak  of  the 
"  Turanian  family  "  of  languages  as  the  third  member 
in  the  group,  or  the  third  language  tree,  which  we  de- 
sire to  trace  in  and  out  as  we  have  the  Aryan  and  the 
Semitic.  Because  of  the  fact  just  stated,  namely, 
that  the  languages  represented  in  the  Turanian  family 
were  and  are  the  speech  of  wandering  peoples,  for 
the  most  part,  we  cannot  expect  our  pathway  to  be 
as  clear  and  unbroken  as  in  the  Aryan,  nor  even  as  in 
the  Semitic.  Still,  I  think  we  shall  not  find  it  un- 
traceable. 

Suppose  wre  take  for  example  some  word  in  com- 
mon use  among  the  Laplanders,  away  up  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  Europe,  and  some  one  in  common  use 
among  the  Esthonians,  who  inhabit  the  islands  in  the 
Gulf  of  Finland.     (I  will  not  burden  these  pages  or 


In  His  Speech.  163 

perplex  the  reader  by  writing  out  the  forms  used  in 
these  strange  languages,  for  the  method  of  the  tracing 
can  be  made  equally  plain  without  it.)  As  we  look 
at  the  words  they  seem  to  have  nothing  in  common, 
and  yet  a  separation  of  their  constituent  parts  shows 
us  an  intimate  relationship  with  other  words  in  the 
same  languages,  and  we  go  on  making  discoveries  of 
these  relationships  until  we  find  the  two  dialects  tak- 
ing on  many  common  forms.  Then,  using  these  kin- 
dred forms  as  a  starting-point,  we  can  trace  their 
progress,  as  they  take  on  other  roots,  or,  as  the  phi- 
lologists would  say,  as  they  go  on  "agglutinating," 
until  we  find  the  Tavestian  and  Karelian  dialects 
fully  made  out.  Ultimately  we  are  able  to  trace  a 
relationship  more  or  less  distinct  between  the  numer- 
ous languages  spoken  by  the  nomad  peoples  compos- 
ing the  Finnic  tribes  all  through  the  northern  part  of 
Europe  and  north-western  Asia,  and  even  south  as  far 
as  Constantinople. 

Pursuing  the  same  manner  of  inquiry  in  regard  to 
representative  words  in  use  by  the  cultured  Osmanli, 
or  followers  of  Osman,  heard  in  the  polite  circles  of 
Tripoli  and  Tunis,  or  anywhere  throughout  the  wide 
stretches  of  country  over  which  the  conquests  of  this 
tribe  extended,  and  we  reach  the  same  conclusion 
concerning  the  substantial  relationship  existing  among 
all  the  Turks  and  their  allies,  from  Siberia,  on  the 
north,  to  the  Indo-European  provinces  on  the  south, 
and  from  the  river  Lena,  in  the  extreme  north-east, 


1G-A  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

to  Africa  and  southern  Europe  on  the  south-east.  I 
do  not  mean  to  say  that  these  affinities  are  always 
plain,  but  I  am  quite  sure  that  any  one  who  will  be 
at  the  pains  to  examine  the  copious  illustrations  of 
their  relationship,  as  they  are  made  to  appear  in  the 
more  comprehensive  treatises  on  this  subject,  will  be 
fully  convinced  that  they  are  not  theoretical  or  imag- 
inary, but  actual,  affinities.  Nor  need  he  be  a  reader 
or  speaker  of  the  Turkish  language  in  order  to  distin- 
guish these  marks  of  similarity.  Personally  I  have 
no  knowledge  of  any  of  the  dialects  of  this  language, 
cannot  read  a  sentence  without  a  lexicon,  and  yet  I 
can  see  very  clearly  by  a  few  hours'  study  of  a  Turk- 
ish grammar  that  it  is  a  language  of  no  mean  impor- 
tance, and  that  its  alliances  with  others  cannot  but  be 
numerous  and  close.  Their  alphabet  contains  thirty- 
three  letters.  Twenty  eight  of  these  were  taken  di- 
rectly from  the  Arabic,  and  four  from  the  Persian, 
only  one  being  native  Turk. 

Their  grammar  is  surprisingly  complete,  and  at 
once  indicates  a  language  of  great  resources.  The 
verb,  for  example,  is  thrown  into  such  a  variety  of 
forms  as  to  express  all  shades  of  meaning,  there  being 
seven  species  or  genera — active,  passive,  causal,  re- 
ciprocal, negative,  etc. — and  besides  all  these,  addi- 
tional provision  is  made  for  a  more  complete  expres- 
sion of  the  subjunctive,  conjunctive,  optative,  and 
potential  moods  by  "  gluing  on "  certain  particles. 
In  various  ways  it  runs  out  into  and  borrows  from  the 


In  His  Speech.  165 

languages  belonging  to  the  Aryan  and  Semitic  fami- 
lies with  which  it  has  come  into  contact. 

The  same  tracing  process  pursued  with  words  of 
the  Mongolic  dialects,  spoken  by  the  Kalmuks  and 
Diirbets,  or  any  of  the  tribes  from  China  to  the 
VoW,  brings  out  similar  evidences  of  relationship 
among  all  of  them. 

And  so  of  numerous  other  branches  of  this  great 
and  widely  scattered  Turanian  family ;  as  the  Malaic, 
the  Tamulic,  and  the  Samoyedic.  Having  made  out 
these  various  branches,  the  next  step  is  to  discover 
sufficient  similarity  among  them  to  warrant  us  in 
placing  them  together  in  one  common  family. 

Some  authorities  object  to  thus  grouping  them,  be- 
cause the  relationship  here  established  is  not  as  clearly 
shown  as  among  the  various  branches  of  the  Aryan 
and  Semitic.  In  raising  this  objection  they  reveal 
either  a  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  real  nature  of  the 
question,  or  a  disposition  to  be  captious.  Any  one 
disposed  to  look  at  the  matter  fairly,  and  having  a 
full  appreciation  of  the  problem,  would  not  for  one 
moment  expect  to  find  the  same  niceties  of  family 
likeness  between  the  Finnic  and  Mongolic  branches 
of  the  Turanian  as  between  the  Scandinavian  and 
German  branches  of  the  Aryan,  or  the  Aramaic  and 
Hebrew  branches  of  the  Semitic.  He  would  under- 
stand that  the  ruder  the  forms  of  speech  the  less  fixed 
they  are,  and  the  more  readily  do  they  take  on  new 
forms  under  changed  conditions ;  and  that  these  new 


166  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

forms,  taking  to  themselves  still  newer  and  more 
strange  agglutinations,  would  come  to  have  very  little 
the  appearance  of  the  original. 

Now,  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  branches  of  the  Tura- 
nian family  are  made  up  of  these  ruder  forms,  these 
agglutinative  dialects,  and  the  difficulties  which  meet 
us  only  help  to  prove  the  genuineness  of  the  results 
reached. 

The  immense  number  of  apparently  irreconcilable 
differences  which  philologists  have  succeeded  in  rec- 
onciling, and  especially  the  very  substantial  progress 
made  in  this  direction  within  recent  years,  leads  us 
to  believe  that  in  due  time  all  will  be  made  plain,  and 
the  Turanian  family  be  as  fully  recognized  as  are  the 
other  two  at  the  present  writing. 

This  much  we  can  even  now  assert,  without  fear  of 
successful  contradiction,  that  the  plainly  shown  evi- 
dences of  similarity  are  sufficiently  numerous  to  in- 
validate every  objection  yet  brought  against  Turanian 
unity.  This  in  itself  leaves  us  on  vantage  ground  up 
to  the  present  hour,  and  this  is  sufficient. 

Having,  then,  all  the  known  lan^ua^es  of  the  earth 
grouped  into  three  families  —  Aryan,  Semitic,  and 
Turanian — our  next  inquiry  is,  Have  these  three  fam- 
ilies any  thing  in  common  ?  This  question  has  re- 
ceived many  answers — answers  about  as  various  as 
they  are  numerous. 

In  the  multiplicity  of  authorities  on  the  subject 
one  scarcely  knows  whence  to  choose.     But  after  a 


In  His  Speech.  167 

somewhat  diligent  examination  I  have  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  that  certainly  no  one  of  those  who  deny 
that  they  have  any  thing  in  common  has  substan- 
tiated that  denial  by  any  evidence  which  is  even  ap- 
proximately complete.  Several  claim  to  have  done 
so,  and  almost  bewilder  us  with  examples  of  the  "  nu- 
merous," "insurmountable,"  "  unexplainable,"  "ine- 
radicable," and  all  other  terrible  differences  which 
exist  between  them  ;  but  the  claim,  notwithstanding 
the  good  rhetoric  and  the  weighty  words  which  are 
brought  to  its  support,  amounts  in  the  last  analysis  to 
only  a  skillful  pointing  out  of  the  fact  that  each  one 
of  these  families  possesses  much  that  is  peculiar  to 
itself;  that  each  one  is  in  a  very  marked  degree  sui 
generis. 

But  this  we  all  admit,  and  that  gladly ;  for  it  in- 
creases, rather  than  diminishes,  the  indications  of 
primary  unity.  It  is  decidedly  amusing  to  observe 
the  herculean  blows  which  have  been  expended  upon 
such  a  man  of  straw. 

No  objections  to  the  theory  of  a  common  origin 
for  these  three  families  of  speech  having  been  proven 
to  be  valid,  we  may  at  least  consider  the  question  an 
open  one,  and  look  for  the  indications  of  a  common 
origin.  In  the  first  place,  we  find  that  all  languages 
are,  in  a  certain  sense,  progressive,  and  if  any  thing 
becomes  plain  from  a  careful  examination  of  the 
Aryan  languages,  in  their  inflectional  or  highest 
stage,  it  is   that  they  may  have  once  been    in   the 


168  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

agglutinative  or  lower  stage,  even  as  the  agglutina- 
tive may  have  once  been  in  the  radical  or  monosyllabic 
stage.  Secondly,  we  find  certain  fundamental  roots, 
certain  basal  forms,  in  the  Semitic  which  look  a 
little  like  and  have  meanings  very  much  like  cer- 
tain fundamental  roots  in  the  Aryan.  Thirdly,  we 
find,  in  some  of  the  Turanian  forms,  a  significant  sort 
of  progression  toward  the  Aryan  forms,  and  in  a  few 
instances  what  appears  to  us  to  be  an  actual  passing 
over  into  the  Aryan.  Fourthly,  we  discover  an  in- 
termingling of  the  three  families,  especially  of  the 
Semitic  and  Aryan,  and  even  the  taking  on  of  certain 
Aryan  features  by  the  much-despised  Turanian. 

Now,  in  the  absence  of  any  proof  to  the  contrary, 
we  submit  that  these  facts,  which  lie  upon  the  very 
surface,  may  be  justly  considered  to  be  exceedingly 
strong  indications  of  unity  of  source.  And  if,  with 
the  necessarily  meager  acquaintance  the  most  ad- 
vanced philologists  as  yet  have  with  the  languages  of 
the  earth,  so  many  facts  point  to  a  single  source  from 
whence  all  languages  sprang,  may  we  not  reasonably 
expect  that  every  fact  added  to  our  present  stock  will 
point  us  thither  still  more  clearly  ?  I  believe  we 
may,  and  consider  myself  warranted  in  affirming,  at 
the  close  of  this  section,  that  my  initial  proposition  is 
sustained ;  namely,  that  diversity  of  origin  lias  never 
yet  been  proven,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  every  es- 
tablished philological  fact  at  least  points  toward,  and 
seems  to  indicate,  unity  of  origin — one  single  source. 


In  His  Speech.  160 

SECTION    SECOND. 

Having  thus,  as  I  believe,  shown  conclusively  that, 
as   far  as   philological   science   has   arrived   at  well- 
established   data,  these   data  all  point  to  a  common 
origin  for  all  the  languages  of  the  earth,  and  having 
certainly  shown   that   no   one   has   proved   diversity 
of  origin,   I   proceed   to   inquire  whether  any  other 
earth-born   creature   besides  man   has  the  faculty  of 
speech.     To  any  one  unaccustomed  to  reading  the  de- 
liverances  of  "advanced    science"  such  an   inquiry 
would    perhaps   seem    unnecessary;    for   speech   has 
from  time  immemorial  been  considered  a  distinctive 
characteristic  of  the   human   species.     Down  to  the 
time  of  John  Locke  this  fact  was  considered  so  undis- 
puted that  it  was  assumed  as  an  established  premise 
in  argument.     He  says:  "This  I  may  be  positive  in, 
that  the  power  of  abstracting  is  not  at  all  in   brutes, 
and   that  the  having  of  general  ideas  is  that  which 
puts  a  perfect  distinction  between  man  and  brutes. 
For  it  is  evident  we  observe  no  footsteps  in  these  of 
making  use  of  general  signs  for  universal  ideas ;  from 
which  we  have  reason  to  imagine  that  they  have  not 
the  faculty  of  abstracting  or  making  general  ideas, 
since  they  have  no  use  of  words  or  any  other  general 
signs.     God  having  designed  man  for  a  sociable  crea- 
ture made  him  not  only  with  an  inclination  and  under 
a  necessity  to  have  fellowship  with  those  of  his  own 
kind,  but  furnished   him   also  with  language  which 


170  Man  a  Eevelation  of  God. 

was  to  be  the  great  instrument  and  common  tie  of 
society."  * 

But  in  later  years,  as  physical  science  has  advanced 
in  its  triumphs,  and  naturalism  has  come  to  assert  its 
absolute  sway  and  demand  the  entire  exclusion  of 
every  thing  supernatural,  it  lias  been  thought  neces- 
sary to  show  that  articulate  speecii  is  only  a  devel- 
opment, or  a  result  of  natural  selection,  and  hence 
that  it  does  not  constitute  a  truly  human  distinction, 
because  its  germinant  principles  are  possessed  by 
brutes,  and  it  really  came  through  brutes  to  man. 

Charles  Darwin,  in  his  truly  interesting  and,  in 
many  respects,  valuable  work,  entitled  The  Expres- 
sion of  the  Emotions  in  Man  and  Animals,  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1872,  enters  into  a  most  compre- 
hensive citation  of  incidents  and  illustrations  to  show, 
among  other  things,  that  man  is  not  the  only  talking 
animal.  He  states  many  facts  which  are  well  known 
to  every  careful  observer  of  the  animal  creation, 
and  brings  to  view  many  which,  though  essentially 
known  before,  are  comparatively  new,  and  presents 
the  whole  in  such  chaste  and  earnest  style  as  to  lead 
the  uninformed  reader  to  the  acceptance  of  a  theory 
which  rests,  not  upon  the  facts  he  so  clearly  and 
beautifully  states,  but  upon  the  half-truths  and  as- 
sumptions which  he  clothes  with  equal  beauty  of 
language.     I  must  not  indulge  myself  in  any  formal 

*  Essay   Concerning  Unman   Understanding,  by  John  Locke,  Gent, 
vol.  i,  book  iii,  p.  427. 


In  His  Speech.  171 

refutation  of  this  book,  for  this  would  involve  quota- 
tions therefrom  for  which  space  cannot  be  spared;  but 
it  would  be  an  easy  task  to  show  its  utter  lack  of 
conclusiveness,  and  to  demonstrate  that  materialism 
has  grained  from  it  nothing  substantial.  The  same  is 
emphatically  true  of  his  earlier  work,  published  in 
1868  in  two  large  volumes,  entitled  The  Variation 
of  Animals  and' Plants  under  Domestication,  which, 
as  before  stated,  tends  strongly  to  confirm  the  belief 
in  one  single  source  from  which  language  sprang; 
thus  affording  another  illustration  of  that  which  is 
often  found,  namely,  that  a  treatise  by  some  learned 
author  confessedly  opposed  to  evangelical  religion, 
which  signally  fails  to  substantiate  the  positions 
taken  against  the  truths  of  revelation,  positively  as- 
sists the  truth  in  other  departments. 

Several  other  learned  treatises,  bearing  either  direct- 
ly or  indirectly  upon  this  subject,  written  by  some  of 
the  foremost  disciples  of  Darwin,  and  the  most  en- 
thusiastic champions  of  natural  selection,  evolution, 
survival  of  the  fittest,  etc.,  which  it  has  been  my 
privilege  to  read,  I  have  found  to  contain  similar 
unbridged  chasms,  the  same  lack  of  logical  sequence 
in  inference  and  conclusion,  and  the  same  disposition 
to  beg  the  question  by  taking  for  granted  that  which 
remained  to  be  proven.  In  none  of  them  have  I 
found  the  slightest  evidence  of  the  possession  by 
brutes  of  the  real  faculty  of  articulate  speech.  In 
those   instances   wherein    it   seemed    to   be  such,   or 


172  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

wherein  an  elaborate  effort  was  made  to  cause  it  so 
to  appear,  it  was  clearly  the  merest  imitation — some 
parrot  like  performance  which  proved  nothing  to  their 
purpose. 

Max  Miiller  has  well  said,  "  Man  speaks,  and  no 
brute  has  ever  uttered  a  word.  Language  is  some- 
thing more  palpable  than  a  fold  of  the  brain  or  an 
angle  of  the  skull.  It  admits  of  no  caviling,  and  no 
process  of  natural  selection  will  ever  distill  significant 
words  out  of  the  notes  of  birds  or  the  cries  of  beasts." 
And  in  the  same  general  line  of  thought  we  find  the 
learned  and  carefully  conservative  Pressense  saying : 

"  There  is  not  a  single  proposition  which  does  not 
imply  a  judgment;  and  judgments  in  their  sequence 
are  the  manifestations  of  the  natural  logic  of  the  hu- 
man mind.  Reason,  then,  is  the  very  soul  of  lan- 
guage. Is  there  any  thing  at  all  analogous  to  it 
in  the  cry  or  the  instinctive  sign  of  the  animal? 
Is  there  any  thing  in  that  cry  which  implies  ab- 
straction, generalization  ?  It  does  nothing  more 
than  express  a  sensation,  or  at  most  that  totality 
of  sensations  susceptible  of  a  certain  development 
which  constitute  a  want;  it  never  goes  further. 
Man,  on  the  contrary,  at  once  gets  beyond  sensa- 
tion, want ;  he  goes  out  of  himself,  and  names  and 
characterizes  the  object  of  his  perception ;  he  knows 
it,  and  makes  it  known.  We  thus  arrive  at  a  second 
characteristic  of  speech.  The  inferior  language  of 
the  animal  is   purely  subjective,  sensational,  if  we 


In  His  Speech.  173 

may  so  say.  It  has  attained  its  end  when  it  has  ex- 
pressed that  which  the  animal  feels  ;  it  attempts  no 
more.  "When  insects  concert  and  understand  one  an- 
other by  signs,  it  is  always  in  order  to  obtain  that 
which  instinct  requires,  or  to  escape  some  impending 
danger.  Man,  on  the  contrary,  even  under  the  press- 
ure of  sensation,  fixes  on  the  object  which  has  ex- 
cited it,  names  it,  and  thus  rises  above  the  mere  sense- 
impression  to  knowledge.  To  speak  is  to  know. 
Soon  he  is  no  longer  content  to  designate  the  object 
of  his  knowledge  simply  because  he  dreads  or  desires 
it ;  he  obeys  a  nobler  impulse — he  seeks  to  know  it 
for  itself,  impelled  by  a  higher  need  born  of  and  de- 
veloped with  his  reason." 

It  is  sometimes  objected  that  some  men  have  not 
as  much  intelligence  as  some  brutes.  We  grant  it. 
But  this  is  not  the  question  now  under  discussion. 
The  inquiry  is  rather  qualitative  than  quantitative, 
one  of  kind  rather  than  one  of  measure.  The  bird 
or  the  beaver  doubtless  knows  more,  in  a  certain 
sense — has  more  intelligence,  in  a  certain  sense — than 
the  child  or  even  the  youth,  but  it  is  not  that  reason- 
ing faculty  which  generalizes,  and  which  leads  to  the 
expression  of  abstractions  in  articulate  speech.  Hence, 
it  is  legitimate  for  us  to  argue  from  the  fact  of  such 
expressions  to  the  possession  by  man  of  that  sort  or 
kind  of  intelligence,  or  reason,  which  the  brute  does 
not  possess,  and  which  separates,  distinguishes,  dif- 
ferentiates him  from  all  the  brute  creation.     In  Chips 


174  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

from  a  German  Workshop),  by  Max  Miiller,  published 
in  1875  in  four  volumes,  containing  a  veritable  mine 
of  philological  wealth,  we  find  the  following  strong 
statement  bearing  upon  the  thought  just  presented : 

"  We  see  to-day  that  the  lowest  savages,  men  whose 
language  is  said  to  be  no  better  than  the  clucking  of 
liens  or  the  twittering  of  birds,  and  who  have  been 
declared  in  many  respects  lower  even  than  animals, 
possess  this  one  specific  characteristic,  that  if  you  take 
one  of  their  babies  and  bring  it  up  in  England  it  will 
learn  to  speak  as  well  as  any  English  baby  ;  while  no 
amount  of  education  will  elicit  any  attempts  at  lan- 
guage from  the  highest  animals,  whether  bipeds  or 
quadrupeds."  And  again  we  hear  him  say  in  well- 
put  phrase :  "  Language  is  the  Eubicon  which  the 
animal  never  crosses,  because  it  reveals  a  direct 
operation  of  reason ;  it  is  reason  expressed,  just  as 
reason  is  unexpressed  language." 

Nor  is  it  merely  on  this  psychological  ground 
that  we  postulate  the  inherent  difference  between 
human  and  brute  language,  for,  as  Pressense  says: 
"  Human  speech,  whether  as  making  the  reason 
fully  conscious  of  itself,  or  as  manifesting  it  in  ar- 
ticulate words,  differs  altogether  from  the  lansruaire 
of  animals,  which  is  one  of  mere  corporeal  signs.  We 
do  not  mean  to  imply  that  there  is  no  relation  be 
tween  the  two.  With  regard  to  speech,  as  to  his 
whole  existence,  it  may  be  said  that  man  begins  by 
the  instinctive,  only  there  is  in  man,  in  a  virtual  state. 


In  llis  Speech.  175 

something  more  than  instinct — an  element  of  higher 
life  not  to  be  developed  from  instinct  alone  by  mere 
evolution,  but  which,  coming  from  a  higher  source, 
will  in  the  end  transmute  instinct  into  something 
higher.  Man  begins,  indeed,  with  a  cry,  the  corporeal 
sign,  but  he  does  not  stop  there,  and  rational  speech 
is  not  the  mere  perfecting  of  the  cry  which  was 
wrung  from  him  by  his  first  infantile  sorrows.  Nei- 
ther the  cry  nor  the  interjection  contains  the  princi- 
ple of  abstraction,  of  generalization,  of  reasoning,  in- 
herent in  true  human  speech."  * 

These  several  positions  are  well  taken.  The  objec- 
tion may  be  urged,  however,  that  the  authorities  here 
cited  are  committed  to  Christianity,  and  would  very 
naturally  contend  against  every  hypothesis  which,  if 
substantiated,  would  prove  antagonistic  thereto.  This 
objection  is  not  a  worthy  one,  for  it  assumes  a  sort  of 
inwrought  dishonesty,  and,  if  granted,  invalidates  all 
argument  to  some  extent,  lying  against  one  party  as 
strongly  as  against  the  other:  and  vet  it  has  its 
weight ;  hence  I  now  desire  to  look  into  the  writings 
of  those  who  are  not  supposed  to  have  any  bias  in 
either  direction. 

In  the  progress  of  a  somewhat  extended  argument, 
Professor  W.  D.  Whitney  says  :  "  It  is  well  to  point 
out  here  that  this  change  of  the  basis  of  men's 
communication  from  natural  suggestiveness  to  mu- 
tual understanding,  and  the  consequent  purely  con- 

*  A  Study  of  Origins,  by  Edmund  de  Pressense,  p.  315. 


1*'^  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

ventional  character  of  all  human  language  in  its 
every  part  and  particle,  puts  an  absolute  line  of 
demarkation  between  the  latter  and  the  means  of 
communication  of  all  the  lower  animals.  The  two 
are  not  of  the  same  kind  any  more  than  human  soci- 
ety, in  its  variety  of  organization,  is  of  the  same  kind 
with  the  instinctive  herding  of  wild  cattle  or  swarm- 
ing of  insects,  any  more  than  human  architecture  with 
the  instinctive  burrowing  of  the  fox  and  nest-build  ins: 
of  the  bird,  any  more  than  human  industry  and  accu- 
mulation of  capital  with  the  instinctive  hoarding  of 
bees  and  beavers."  * 

It  is  immaterial  to  our  present  purpose  that  we 
cannot  agree  with  the  writer  in  the  conclusions  he 
draws  from  the  argument,  a  part  of  which  we  quote. 
Our  only  purpose  is  to  show  that  whatever  weight  it 
may  have  in  the  determining  scale  of  our  present  in- 
quiry must  be  placed  upon  our  side. 

Another  accepted  authority  on  philology — accepted, 
I  mean,  by  those  who  lean  toward  the  materialistic 
side  of  all  those  questions — is  Edward  B.  Tylor, 
F.R.S.  Ilis  work,  entitled  Researches  into  the 
Early  History  of  Mankind,  is  one  of  much  worth, 
indicating  great  erudition  and  careful  research,  taking 
up  in  successive  chapters  "  Gesture  Language,"  " Gest- 
ure Language  and  Word  Language,"  u  Picture  Writ- 
ing and  Word  Writing,"  "  Images  and  Names,"  and 
so  on  through  the  whole  progressive  history  of  early 

*  Encyclopedia  BrUanmca.  article  "  Philology." 


In  His  Speech.  177 

man.  lie  is  thoroughly  noncommittal  upon  most 
points  touching  the  question  of  theism,  although  evi- 
dently not  a  true  theist,  and  yet  he  very  clearly  shows 
that  articulate  speech  is  a  distinctively  human  exer- 
cise. I  would  not  be  understood  as  holding  the  au- 
thority  of  a  writer  of  this  class  in  higher  estimation 
than  that  of  one  who  is  a  pronounced  believer  in  the 
supernatural,  and  an  avowed  champion  of  the  divine 
human  theory  of  language  ;  but  it  is  quite  refresh- 
ing to  find  so  many  of  our  supposed  opponents 
wheeling  into  line  with  us  on  some  one  phase  of  our 
inquiry. 

Sir  John  Lubbock,  in  his  Origin  of  Civilization 
and  Primitive  Condition  of  M an ,  takes  substantially 
the  same  position.  Prehistoric  Times,  already  no- 
ticed in  these  pages,  has  given  him  a  world  wide  repu- 
tation as  an  advocate  of  the  immense  antiquity  of 
man,  and  there  can  be  no  question,  in  the  mind  of 
any  one  who  has  carefully  read  his  writings,  as  to  his 
unqualified  disregard  of  a  written  revelation  ;  and  yet 
he  says : 

kt  Although  it  has  been  at  various  times  stated  that 
certain  savage  tribes  are  entirely  without  language, 
none  of  these  accounts  appear  to  be  well  authenti- 
cated, and  they  are  a  priori  extremely  improbable. 
At  any  rate,  even  the  lowest  races  of  which  we  have 
any  satisfactory  account  possess  a  language,  imperfect 
though  it  may  be,  and  eked  out  to  a  great  extent  by 
signs.     I  do  not  suppose,  however,  that  this  custom 


ITS  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

Las  arisen  from  the  absence  of  words  to  represent 
their  ideas,  but  rather  because  in  all  countries  inhab- 
ited by  savages  the  number  of  languages  is  very 
great,  and  hence  there  is  a  great  advantage  in  being 
able  to  communicate  by  signs." 

lie  says  this  in  full  view  of  facts  the  most  ample 
going  to  show  the  degraded  condition  of  many  savage 
tribes,  and  the  apparently  almost  brainless  condition 
of  some  of  the  individuals  thereof;  for  it  would 
seem  that  he  himself  has  ransacked  every  possible 
source  of  information  concerning  the  habits  and 
customs  of  all  the  uncivilized  races  to  whom  access 
could  be  had. 

In  addition  to  his  personal  observations,  he  has 
evidently  read  nearly  every  thing  that  was  ever 
written  concerning  the  observations  of  others. 
He  quotes  approvingly  from  Travels  in  Brazil,  by 
Spix  and  Martins;  from  Tropical  South  Africa ,  by 
Galton  ;  from  Scenes  and  Studies  of  Savage  Life,  by 
Sproat ;  from  Indian  Tribes  of  Guiana,  by  Brett; 
and  several  other  volumes,  all  of  which  exhibit  the 
lower  types  of  mankind  in  their  lowest  aspects.  And 
yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  so  strong  are  the  evi- 
dences of  an  inherent  difference  in  kind  between  the 
very  lowest  forms  of  articulate  speech  and  the  very 
highest  of  brute  signs  that  he  goes  even  further,  and 
says  : 

"  Signs  may  serve  to  convey  ideas  in  a  manner 
which   would  probably  surprise  those  who  have  not 


In  His  Speech.  179 

studied  this  question  ;  still  it  must  be  admitted  that 
they  are  far  inferior  to  the  sounds  of  the  voice  ;  which, 
as  already  mentioned,  are  used  for  this  purpose  by  all 
the  races  of  men  with  whom  we  are  acquainted. 

"  Language,  as  it  exists  among  all  but  the  lowest 
races,  although  far  from  perfect,  is  yet  so  rich  in 
terms,  and  possesses  in  its  grammar  so  complex  an 
organization,  that  we  cannot  wonder  at  those  who 
have  attributed  to  it  a  divine  and  miraculous  origin. 
Nay,  their  view  may  be  admitted  as  correct,  but  only 
in  that  sense  in  which  a  ship  or  a  palace  may  be  so 
termed  :  they  are  human  in  so  far  as  they  have  been 
worked  out  by  man  ;  divine,  inasmuch  as  in  doing  so 
he  has  availed  himself  of  the  powers  which  Providence 
has  given  him."  *  Which  is  putting  the  case  about 
as  strongly  as  we  could  expect  from  Sir  John. 

This  is  perhaps  a  sufficient  citation  of  authorities, 
although  in  this  field  it  is  well  always  for  a  writer  to 
give  the  results  of  others'  investigation  as  a  proof  of 
his  own  positions. 

Mere  dogmatism  or  preconceived  theories  should 
weigh  little  in  a  discussion  of  this  kind.  But  here 
we  have  before  us  the  declarations  of  the  most  emi- 
nent philologists  of  almost  every  phase  of  belief  as  to 
revelation,  and  there  is  substantial  agreement  in  this 
one  opinion — that  no  other  creature  possesses  articu- 
late speech. 

Having  shown  this  general  consensus   of  opinion 

*  Origin  of  Civilization  and  Primitive  Condition  of  Man ,  p.  277. 


180  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

among  writers  of  note  on  this  subject,  it  is  proper  for 
us  to  inquire  if  this  is  not  in  accordance  with  our  race 
instincts,  or  intuitions.  Take  any  man  or  any  class  of 
men — those  who  have  never  considered  questions  of 
ethics,  or  philology,  or  history  ;  and  who  have  no  theo- 
ries of  morals  or  religion  to  support — and  would  they 
not  be  surprised  to  hear  some  lower  animal  speak  as 
man  speaks  ? 

To  ask  the  question  is  to  answer  it.  There  is  a 
general  conviction  among  men  that  speech  is  some- 
thing which  belongs  to  no  other  creature.  I  would 
not  be  understood  as  setting  forth  this  fact  absolutely 
conclusive,  but  it  has  its  weight,  as  it  accords  with  all 
the  historical  indications  which  have  been  produced, 
and  thus  becomes  in  a  certain  sense  confirmatory.  I 
would  not  be  understood  as  claiming  to  have  proved, 
or  as  attempting  to  prove,  that  there  may  not  have 
been,  at  some  time  or  at  some  place  on  this  earth,  a 
race  of  beings,  not  human,  who  possessed  the  power 
of  articulate  speech,  any  more  than  I  would  under- 
take to  prove  that  there  are  not  inhabitants  upon  the 
other  planets. 

But  it  rests  with  our  opponents  to  show  that  there 
have  been  such,  and  until  they  do  they  have  no  right 
to  demand  of  me  a  belief  contrary  to  every  ascer- 
tained indication,  and  contrary  to  my  own  intuitions. 
Nor  would  I  have  it  understood  that  I  wish  to  rob 
the  brute  creation  of  one  iota  of  its  claim  to  intelli- 
gence, in  denying  to  it  the  power  of  speech  ;  and  yet 


In  His  Speech.  Is* 

I  feel  a  little  as  Sydney  Smith  must  have  felt  when 

he  said  : 

« I  confess  I  feel  myself  so  much  at  ease  about  the 
superiority  of  mankind,  I  have  such  a  marked  and 
decided  contempt  for  the  understanding  of  every 
baboon  I  have  ever  seen,  I  feel  so  sure  that  the  blue 
ape  without  a  tail  will  never  rival  us  in  poetry,  paint- 
ing, and  music;  that  I  see  no  reason  whatever  that 
justice  may  not  be  done  to  the  few  fragments  of  soul, 
and  tatters  of  understanding  which  they  may  really 

possess." 

"Man  is  man  only  because  he  speaks;  but  he 
could  not  have  spoken  if  he  had  not  been  already 
man,"  said  the  illustrious  Humboldt,  and  we  have 
yet  'to  find  a  successful  contradiction  of  the  de- 
claration. 

SECTION     THIRD. 

The  third  and  last  question  of  this  chapter  is  one 
on  which  there  has  been  more  serious  disagreement, 
but  which  we  confidently  believe  admits  of  an 
equally  satisfactory  answer. 

Could  man  have  become  possessed  of  speech, 
either  by  discovery,  evolution,  or  art,  had  he  not 
been  given  therefor  a  special  endowment?  We 
do  not  ask  whether  God  gave  to  our  first  parents 
the  full-fledged  speech  of  later  years,  in  the  same 
manner  as  we  might  suppose  some  supernatural 
power  to  suddenly  endow   an  adult   mute   with  the 


1S2  Man  a  It k violation  of  God. 

ready  utterance  possessed  by  some  gifted  orator. 
There  may,  and  doubtless  do,  remain,  in  some  cir- 
cles, a  few  of  those  visionaries  who  believe  that  God 
did  thus  present  to  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  garden  a 
complete  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  dictionary  combined, 
and  gave  them  entire  and  immediate  mastery  thereof; 
and  no  doubt  these  people  consider  themselves  the 
only  orthodox  believers  in  the  Bible  account  of  crea- 
tion. But  every  one  should  know,  and  doubtless 
every  one  who  will  read  such  a  volume  as  this  does 
know,  that  the  Bible  not  only  does  not  teach  any 
tiling  of  the  sort,  but  does  not  even  permit  any  such 
inference  to  be  legitimately  drawn.  Such  visionaries 
freely  charge  those  who  would  look  for  a  gradual 
growth  and  development  of  language  with  infidelity 
to  revelation,  while  they  are  themselves  the  real  ene- 
mies to  Bible  truth,  because  they  heap  upon  it  unnec- 
essary burdens. 

On  the  other  extreme  is  a  large  class  of  men  who 
deny  the  divine  element  in  all  creation,  even  the 
creation  of  man,  and  who,  of  course,  profess  to  see 
nothing  in  human  speech  above  a  mere  natural 
growth.  With  these  extremists  we  have  no  desire 
to  argue,  for  they  have  been  shown  in  previous 
chapters  to  be  either  incapable  of  appreciating  the 
force  of  an  argument,  or  unwilling  to  admit  the 
truth  when  convinced.  But  to  these  there  seem  to 
have  joined  themselves  many  naturalists  and  philoso- 
phers who  profess  to  have  faith  in  the   supernatural, 


In  His  Speech.  1S3 

but  refuse  to  admit  that  it  lias  any  place  in  human 
speech. 

The  previous  section  has,  in  some  measure,  shown 
the  absurdity  of  such  refusal,  but  we  need  to  look 
into  the  question  of  the  origin  of  language  a  little 
more  fully. 

As  regards  actual  2)ossess^on')  the  Pr0°f  *s  suffi- 
ciently clear  that  articulate  speech  belongs  to  man 
alone  of  all  earthly  creatures.  This  simplifies  the 
present  question  to  a  considerable  degree,  for  the  fact 
that  man,  and  man  only,  thus  expresses  himself  proves 
that  he,  and  he  alone,  possesses  the  language  power. 
This  fact  being  established,  not  only  is  the  field  nar- 
rowed to  the  study  of  man,  but  the  object  of  our 
study  is  shown  to  be  entirely  separated  from  the 
brutes  by  at  least  one  distinguishing  mark. 

Again,  it  was  shown  in  the  first  section  of  this 
chapter  that  all  languages  can  be  traced  inward  to 
a  comparatively  small  number  of  fundamental  roots. 
In  fact,  all  philologists  agree  upon  this  much,  no 
matter  how  diverse  their  views  upon  other  points. 
Having,  then,  all  languages  traced  back  and  reduced 
to  these  basal  forms,  we  have  no  longer  the  wonder- 
ful fabric  of  perfected  speech  to  account  for,  but 
merely  its  primary  elements,  merely  these  uncouth 
roots.  But  they  are  full  of  interest.  Whence  came 
they,  and  how?  It  is  sometimes  more  interesting 
to  study  the  beginnings  of  a  process  than  its  com- 
pletion.    It  is  often  more  difficult  also. 


184  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

It  is  a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  trace  back  the 
full-fledged  bird-of-paradise  to  the  egg,  and  even 
within  the  ess.  to  the  germ  ;  but  whence  and  how 
the  life  in  the  germ?  I  suppose  it  would  have 
been  just  as  easy  for  God  to  have  created  the  bird 
full-grown  as  to  have  created  the  elemental  ger- 
minant  speck  in  that  egg.  Let  us  lay  aside  our  rapt- 
ures over  the  beautiful  plumage,  and  the  graceful 
movements,  and  the  wonderful  growth,  from  an  un- 
couth fledgeling  just  out  of  the  shell  up  to  this  vision 
of  perfection,  and  calmly  study  the  primary  elements. 
I  think  we  shall  find  that  just  as  in  the  egg,  just  as 
in  all  animal  life,  we  reach  a  point  back  of  which  we 
cannot  penetrate,  however  perfect  our  science  or 
however  complete  our  processes,  even  so  is  it  in  lan- 
guage. Naturalists  may  talk  stiltedly  and  write 
learnedly  about  protoplasm  and  bioplasm,  but  at  the 
last  they  are  obliged  to  confess  an  unexplained  begin- 
ning, except  only  as  the  Bible  explains  it.  Likewise, 
philologists  may  talk  fluently  and  write  voluminously 
about  onomatopoeia  and  the  progressive  power  of 
interjections,  may  trace  every  known  word  to  its  fun- 
damental root,  and  all  roots  to  a  few  fundamental 
forms,  but  at  the  last  they  are  obliged  to  confess  an 
unexplained  beginning,  except  only  as  the  Bible  ex- 
plains it,  by  indicating  that  God  placed  in  man  a 
faculty  of  articulate  expression. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  with  how  much  skill  this 
crucial  terminus   is   approached  by  all  infidel  evolti- 


In  His  Speech.  1S5 

tionists  both  in  life  and  language.  But  upon  this  we 
must  not  here  enter.  Many  with  whom  we  cannot 
agree  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  language  have  afforded 
substantial  support  to  what  we  esteem  the  true  theory 
while  endeavoring  to  build  up  an  opposite  one,  and  it 
is  quite  probable  that,  could  philologists  come  to  an 
understanding  of  terms,  there  would  be  much  less  of 
disagreement. 

Hensleigh  Wedgwood,  in  his  work  entitled  The 
Origin  of  Language,  says :  "  Language  in  its  actual 
condition  is  an  art,  like  baking  or  weaving,  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation ;  and  when  we 
would  trace  upward  to  its  origin  the  pedigree  of  this 
grand  distinction  between  man  and  the  brute  creation, 
we  must  either  suppose  that  the  line  of  tradition  has 
been  absolutely  endless,  that  there  never  was  a  period 
at  which  the  family  of  man  was  not  to  be  found  on 
the  earth  speaking  a  language  bequeathed  to  him  by 
his  ancestors,  or  we  must  at  last  arrive  at  a  generation 
which  was  not  taught  their  language  by  their  parents. 
The  question  then  arises,  how  did  the  generation  in 
which  language  was  originally  developed  attain  so 
valuable  an  art?  Must  we  suppose  that  our  first 
parents  were  supernaturally  endowed  with  the  power 
of  speaking  and  understanding  a  definite  language, 
which  wTas  transmitted  in  natural  course  to  their  de- 
scendants and  variously  modified  in  different  lines 
of  descent  through  countless  ages,  during  which 
the   race  of   man  spread  over  the  earth   in  separate 


186  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

families  of  people,  until  languages  were  produeed 
between  winch,  as  at  present,  no  cognizable  relation 
can  be  traced  ?  Or  is  it  possible,  among  the  principles 
recognized  as  having  contributed  elements  more  or  less 
abundant  in  every  known  language,  to  indicate  a  suf- 
ficient cause  for  the  entire  origination  of  language  in 
a  generation  of  men  who  had  not  yet  acquired  the 
command  of  that  great  instrument  of  thought,  though 
in  every  natural  capacity  the  same  as  ourselves?" 

Thus  broadly  and  yet  definitely  does  he  state  the 
question,  and  having  in  the  statement  itself  given  us 
a  hint  of  the  answer  he  proceeds  soon  to  say  that 
"  The  investigator  of  speech  must  accept  as  his  start- 
ing ground  the  existence  of  man  as  yet  without 
knowledge  of  language,  but  endowed  with  intellect- 
ual powers,  and  command  of  his  bodily  frame,  such  as 
we  ourselves  are  conscious  of  possessing/1  By  which, 
if  he  means  to  affirm  that  man  did  not  come  into  ex- 
istence at  the  first  with  full-fledged  speech,  he  is  sim- 
ply stating  a  truism  ;  but  if  he  means  to  affirm,  what 
seems  from  his  subsequent  argument  to  be  probable, 
that  the  power  of  speech  was  in  no  sense  a  special 
gift  to  man,  he  is  at  once  in  conflict  with  the  most 
advanced  philological  teachings,  and  with  the  general 
trend  of  thought  on  these  lines.  Certainly,  when  he 
affirms  that  u  the  mental  process  underlying  the  prac- 
tice of  speech  is  the  same  as  when  communication  is 
carried  on  by  means  of  bodily  gestures,"  and  that 
"  the  same  mental  principles  are  involved  in  a  nod  or 


In  His  Speech.  187 

a  shake  of  the  head  as  in  a  verbal  agreement  or  refu- 
sal," *  he  is  either  stating  half-truths,  which  lie  is  sure 
will  be  accepted  by  every  body,  with  the  hope  that  by 
their  help  the  half-falsehoods  of  his  theory  will  be 
floated,  or  he  is  indulging  in  meaningless  generalities. 
We  are  strongly  inclined  to  the  former  view,  for,  in 
his  undertaking  to  account  for  all  language  on  the 
principle  of  unassisted  imitation,  he  essayed  an  im- 
possible task,  but  at  the  same  time  one  which  led 
him  along  lines  where  lie  many  beautiful  and  in- 
structive truths. 

His  work  is  a  very  valuable  one,  and  it  is  only 
where  he  overstrains  facts  or  inferences  to  make 
them  tit  a  theory  that  failure  results,  and  he  comes 
finally  to  a  very  modest  conclusion,  if  we  mark  the 
hypothetical  statement  thereof:  "Thus  all  anal- 
ogy tends  to  the  belief  that  the  whole  of  language 
would  be  found  to  spring  from  an  imitative  source 
if  the  entire  pedigree  of  every  word  were  open  be- 
fore us."  f  The  italics  are  mine,  and  yet,  with  a  fuller 
definition  of  his  terms,  he  might  be  found  to  mean 
by  his  statements  only  what  the  known  facts  warrant. 
It  seems  a  pity  that  men  cannot  so  define  their  terms 
as  to  make  their  meaning  clear,  or  else  make  use  of 
only  such  as  are  well  understood ;  unless,  perchance, 
they  prefer  the  "  cloudy  maze,  the  safe  retreat  of 
words  in  words  enfolded." 

*  The  Origin  of  Language,  by  Hensleigh  WedgwooJ,  p.  13. 
f  Ibid.,  p.  154. 


188  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

F.  W.  Farrar,  who  has  written  much  and  well  on 
this  subject,  is  worthy  of  notice.  His  Language  and 
Languages  is  perhaps  the  most  able  defense  of  the 
onomatopoetic,  or  sound-imitative,  origin  and  develop- 
ment of  human  speech  that  has  ever  been  published. 
He  has  evidently  made  extensive  researches,  and  has 
brought  to  the  subject  a  great  wealth  of  learning, 
and  yet  I  think  his  readers  cannot  fail  to  discover  a 
warped  judgment  on  many  important  points,  and  sev- 
eral contradictions  of  himself  in  the  course  of  the 
work.  At  page  48  he  says:  "Language  may  with 
more  accuracy  be  called  a  discovery  or  a  creation 
than  an  invention  of  the  human  race.  Undoubt- 
edly the  idea  of  speech  existed  in  the  human  intelli- 
gence as  a  part  of  our  moral  and  mental  constitution 
when  man  first  appeared  upon  the  surface  of  the 
earth.  In  this  sense  we  may  call  language  a  divine 
gift."  In  this  declaration  he  takes  a  position  which, 
were  it  not  discounted  by  its  settings,  would  be  im- 
pregnable. Still  further,  at  page  212,  he  goes  on 
to  say  : 

"Language,  then,  was  not  a  direct  revelation  of 
the  Almighty,  nor  was  it  an  inevitable  result  of 
our  physical  organization ;  nor  was  it  a  purely  me- 
chanical invention  accepted  by  general  agreement, 
in  consequence  of  a  felt  necessity  ;  but  the  ca- 
pacity for  language  was  a  part  of  our  human  con- 
stitution, and  in  the  development  of  this  capacity 
the    senses,    the    memory,    the    understanding,    the 


In  His  Speech.  180 

emotions,  the  will,  and   the   imagination   all    played 
their  part. 

u  The  great  secret — the  divine  idea  of  language — 
became  intuitively  evident  to  man  from  the  working 
of  his  intellect  upon  two  strictly  analogous  facts.  He 
found  that  the  effect  of  powerful  passion  was  to  force 
from  him  involuntary  spontaneous  sounds,  which, 
when  repeated,  recalled  the  passions  by  which  they 
had  been  originally  stimulated,  and  not  only  recalled 
them  by  virtue  of  the  law  of  association  to  him  who 
had  originally  felt  them,  but  also  conveyed  and 
expressed  them  to  others  who  were  similarly  affected 
by  similar  causes.  Bat  besides  this,  as  may  still  be 
observed  in  children,  the  delicate  sensibility  of  the 
nervous  system  in  the  still  fresh  and  unworn  human 
organism  gave  rise  to  a  spontaneous  echo  of  external 
sounds,  an  echo  which  partly  repeated  and  imitated 
the  sounds  themselves,  and  partly  modified  them  in 
accordance  with  the  ideal  impression  which  they 
reproduced.  Originally,  this  repercussion  of  the 
sounds  which  had  thrilled  the  auditory  nerve  was  not 
due  primarily  to  an  instinct  of  conscious  imitation, 
but  to  a  far  subtler  law  of  physical  sympathy  with 
the  outer  world  ;  but  as  it  conveyed  a  pleasurable 
sense  of  power  it  would  at  once  be  adopted  as  a  vol- 
untary exercise  apart  from  any  necessity.  In  this 
instance,  also,  it  would  be  instantly  discovered  that 
the  imitative  sounds,  however  modified  by  organic  or 
subjective  influences,  inevitably  recalled,  by  the  same 


100  Man  a   Revelation  of  G 


on. 


law  of  association,  the  external  phenomena  with 
which  they  were  connected.  In  both  cases  it  would 
be  instantly  discovered  that  sounds  were  capable  of 
becoming  signs,  not  of  sounds  only,  but  of  things. 
Here,  then,  were  the  elements  of  language ;  here  lay 
hidden  the  germs  of  that  infinite  discovery  which 
made  man  worthy  of  his  destined  immortality;  here, 
ready  provided  by  the  working  of  divine  laws,  were 
the  materials  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  express 
his  own  sensations,  and  to  recall  the  most  strik- 
ing aspects  and  influences  of  the  world  in  which  he 
lived."* 

Now  this  conclusion,  in  part,  at  least,  is  well  drawn, 
and  has  the  ring  of  genuine  truth,  but  the  steps  by 
which  it  is  reached  are  in  many  particulars  extremely 
unsteady  and  most  decidedly  crooked.  There  is  alto- 
gether too  much  "  taken  for  granted."  It  sounds  all 
very  well  for  a  man  to  say,  "  Any  one  with  his  eyes 
open  can  see  "  this  or  that ;  "  A  man  not  bereft  of  rea- 
son cannot  fail  to  understand  the  significance "  of 
this  or  that ;  "  Any  mortal  with  half  an  ear  must  dis- 
tinguish the  adaptation  of  sound  to  sense  in  all  these 
imitative  words  ; "  but  in  "  cold  type  "  such  assertions 
look  too  much  like  an  attempt  to  browbeat  the 
reader,  or  force  him  into  assent  to  the  writer's  the- 
ory. As  a  matter  of  fact,  very  many  writers,  and  a 
vast  number  of  readers,  having  hoth  eyes  open,  pos- 
sessed of  their  reason,  and  having  not  merely  "  half  an 

*  Langvage  and  Languages,  by  F.  W.  Farrar,  p.  212. 


In  His  Speech.  191 

ear,"  but  two  good  and  whole  ears,  entirely  fail  to  see, 
understand,  and  hear  as  our  learned  author  does  con- 
cerning many  philological  questions.  Every  student  of 
this  subject  grants  that  there  is  much  of  truth  in  the 
onomatopoetic  theory,  as  regards  a  multitude  of  indi- 
vidual instances.  But  it  would  seem  that  its  support- 
ers lose  sight  of  the  still  greater  multitude  of  in- 
stances in  which  there  is  none  at  all,  and  go  into 
ecstasies  over  the  lesser  number  which  possess  it. 
If  the  live  or  six  hundred  fundamental  roots  could 
he  accounted  for  in  this  way,  and  as  clearly,  or  even 
if  a  third  part  of  them  could  be  thus  accounted  for, 
there  would  he  substantial  ground  on  which  to  rest 
the  theory,  but  comparatively  few  words  even  can 
be  thus  traced,  much  less  roots. 

Max  Miiller  says  significantly :  "  If  this  principle 
of  onomatopoieia  is  applicable  anywhere  it  would  be 
in  the  formation  of  the  names  of  animals;  yet  we 
listen  in  vain  for  any  similarity  between  goose  and 
cackling,  hen  and  clucking,  duck  and  .quacking,  spar- 
row and  chirping,  dove  and  cooing,  hog  and  grunt- 
ing, cat  and  mewing,  between  dog  and  barking,  yelp- 
ing, snarling,  or  growling.  There  are,  of  course,  some 
names,  such  as  cuckoo  which  are  clearly  formed  by  an 
imitation  of  sound.  But  words  of  this  kind  are,  like 
artificial  flowers,  without  a  root.  They  are  sterile,  and 
unfit  to  express  any  thing  beyond  the  one  object 
which  they  imitate. 

"  The  number  of  names  which  are  really  formed  by 


192  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

an  imitation  of  sound  dwindles  down  to  a  very  small 
quotum  if  cross-examined  by  the  comparative  philol- 
ogist, and  we  are  left  in  the  end  with  the  conviction 
that  though  a  lanoriage  might  have  been  made  out 
of  the  roaring,  fizzing,  hissing,  gobbling,  twittering, 
cracking,  banging,  slamming,  and  rattling  sounds  of 
nature,  the  tongues  with  which  we  are  acquainted 
point  to  a  different  origin."  * 

This  appears  to  the  writer  to  be  a  sufficient  refuta- 
tion of  the  much  lauded  theory  of  onomatopoeia,  and 
nothing  further  will  be  added. 

The  interjectional  theory  is  somewhat  similar,  and 
is  held  in  common  with  this  by  most  of  its  advocates. 
It  undertakes  to  show  that  all  language  sprang  orig- 
inally from  interjections,  or  impulsive  cries:  that 
the  first  man  stepped  on  a  sharp  stone  and  cried  0  ! 
that  the  first  woman  came  suddenly  upon  some  un- 
couth-looking animal  and  shrank  back  with  an  ugh! 
That  they  both  saw  something  that  struck  them  as 
being  funny  and  began  to  ha,  ha!  that  they  were 
suddenly  amazed  and  cried  ah!  And  so  on  from 
these  impulsive  sounds,  bursting  forth  from  the  lips 
as  involuntary  expressions  of  emotion,  articulate 
speech  grew  up. 

At  first  thought  this  seems  a  very  plausible  hy- 
pothesis. Those  who  look  no  deeper  than  the  sur- 
face accept  it  at  once,  as  not  only  a  satisfactory  but  a 
very  simple  solution  of  the  problem  in  hand.     But 

*  Science  of  Language,  by  Max  Miiller. 


In  His  Speech.  193 

a  little  closer  scrutiny  reveals  its  weakness,  and  a  full 
investigation  shows  it  to  be  built  upon  air,  even  as  it 
is  made  up  of  expulsive  breath. 

We  freely  grant  that  interjections  have,  in  all 
probability,  always  had  a  place  in  human  speech,  and 
always  will  have,  no  matter  how  perfect  it  becomes. 
They  are,  in  a  certain  sense,  indicators  of  our  merely 
animal  life.  A  man  cries  O!  when  he  is  hurt  just 
as  naturally  as  a  dog  yelps.  We  also  grant  that 
out  of  these  merely  animal  signs  a  sort  of  language 
may  be  formed  ;  but  when  we  trace  human  speech, 
as  we  now  possess  it,  back  to  its  roots  we  do  not 
arrive  at  interjections,  but  at  general  terms,  at 
bundles  of  possibility,  at  germinant  structures 
whose  very  nature  forbids  the  thought  that  they 
represent  nothing  more  than  interjectional  accre- 
tions. 

In  a  somewhat  peculiar,  though  very  sound  and 
judicious  work,  entitled  Diversions  of  Purley,  is 
found  a  very  satisfactory  answer  to  this  theory : 
"The  dominion  of  speech  is  erected  upon  the  down- 
fall of  interjections.  Without  the  artful  contrivances 
of  language,  mankind  would  have  had  nothing  but 
interjections  with  which  to  communicate,  orally,  any 
of  their  feelings.  The  neighing  of  a  horse,  the  low- 
ing of  a  cow,  the  barking  of  a  dog,  the  purring  of  a 
cat,  sneezing,  coughing,  groaning,  shrieking,  and 
every  other  involuntary  convulsion  with  oral  sound, 
have  almost  as  good  a  title  to  be  called  parts  of 
9 


194  Man  a  Kevelation  of  God. 

speech  as  interjections  have.  Voluntary  interjec- 
tions are  only  employed  where  the  suddenness  and 
vehemence  of  some  affection  or  passion  returns  men 
to  their  natural  state,  and  makes  them  for  a  moment 
forget  the  use  of  speech  ;  or  when,  from  some  circum- 
stance, the  shortness  of  time  will  not  permit  them  to 
exercise  it.  And  in  hooks  they  are  only  used  for 
embellishment,  and  to  mark  strongly  the  above  situa- 
tions." * 

The  very  patent  fact  stated  in  this  answer  of 
Tooke,  namely,  that  these  involuntary  cries  of  men 
have  no  more  right  to  be  called  parts  of  speech  than 
the  natural  cries  of  brutes,  gives  us  a  very  significant 
intimation  of  the  real  motives  in  the  case.  If  the  in- 
terjectional  theory  of  language  could  be  made  to  stand, 
the  great,  or  at  least  one  of  the  great,  barriers  separat- 
ing man  from  the  brutes  would  be  removed,  and 
materialism  would  gain  substantial  ground.  This  may 
in  some  measure  account  for  the  zeal  with  which 
even  so  desperate  a  case  is  championed  in  certain 
quarters. 

We  have  said  that  the  fundamental  roots  back  to 
which  all  languages  have  been  traced  are  germinant 
structures,  or  general  terms.  These  represent,  of 
course,  generalizations  of  thought.  An  interjection 
cannot  represent  any  general  notion.  Hence  interjec- 
tions cannot  bear  any  intimate  relation  to  funda- 
mental roots — they  cannot  serve  to  name  a  primary 
*  Diversions  of  Purley,  by  John  Home  Tooke,  London,  1860,  p.  32. 


In  His  Speech.  105 

conception  of  the  human  intellect.  It  is  true  there 
has  been  much  disagreement  among  philosophers  con- 
cerning the  primary  conceptions  of  the  human  mind, 
and  an  almost  interminable  indulgence  in  metaphysical 
hair-splittings  over  the  so-called  przmum  cognitum, 
and  this  has,  in  some  measure,  confused  men  concern- 
ing the  primary  generalizations  which  take  place  in 
naming  objects  or  thoughts. 

Locke,  Hamilton,  Mill,  Stewart,  and  Brown  have 
discussed  this  whole  subject  with  great  thoughtt'ul- 
ness,  and  I  would  gladly  quote  from  each  one 
enough  to  show  his  position,  but  lack  of  space 
forbids. 

In  view  of  this  fact  I  will  not  ask  the  reader  to 
accept  my  conclusions,  but  give  Miiller's  instead ; 
who,  after  giving  extended  quotations  from  some  of 
these  philosophers,  and  according  to  them  the  fullest 
consideration,  says : 

"  Nouns  all  express  originally  one  out  of  the  many 
attributes  of  a  thing,  and  that  attribute,  whether  it 
be  a  quality,  or  an  action,  is  necessarily  a  general 
idea.  The  word  thus  formed  was  in  the  first  instance 
intended  for  one  object  only,  though  of  course  it  was 
almost  immediately  extended  to  the  whole  class  to 
which  this  object  seemed  to  belong.  .  .  .  The  first 
thing  really  known  is  the  general.  It  is  through  it 
that  we  know  and  name  afterward  individual  objects, 
of  which  any  general  idea  can  be  predicated,  and  it  is 
only  in  the  third  stage  that  these  individual  objects, 


103  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

thus  known  and  named,  become  again  the  represent- 
atives of  whole  classes,  and  their  names  or  proper 
names  are  raised  into  appellatives. 

"And  how  do  we  know  things  ?  We  perceive  things 
by  our  senses,  but  our  senses  convey  to  us  informa- 
tion about  single  things  only.  But  to  hiow  is  more 
than  to  feel,  and  to  perceive  more  than  to  remember, 
more  than  to  compare.  Now,  the  first  step  toward 
this  real  knowledge,  a  step  which,  however  small  in 
appearance,  separates  man  from  all  other  animals,  is 
the  naming  of  a  thing,  or  the  making  a  thing  know- 
able.  All  naming  is  classification  bringing  the  indi- 
vidual under  the  general ;  and  whatever  we  know, 
whether  empirically  or  scientifically,  we  know  only 
by  means  of  our  general  ideas.  ...  At  the  very 
point  where  man  parts  company  with  the  brute  world, 
at  the  first  flash  of  reason  as  the  manifestation  of  the 
light  within  us,  there  we  see  the  true  genesis  of  lan- 
guage. Analyze  any  word  you  like,  and  you  will 
find  that  it  expresses  a  general  idea  peculiar  to  the 
individual  to  which  the  name  belongs.  .  .  .  The  four 
or  five  hundred  roots  which  remain  as  the  constituent 
elements  in  different  families  of  language  are  not 
interjections,  nor  are  they  imitations.  They  are  pho- 
netic types  produced  by.  a  power  inherent  in  human 
nature.  They  exist,  as  Plato  would  say,  by  nature ; 
though  with  Plato  we  should  add  that,  when  we  say 
by  nature,  we  mean  by  the  hand  of  God.  The  num- 
ber of  these  phonetic  types  must  have  been  almost 


In  His  Speech.  197 

infinite  in  the  beginning,  and  it  was  only  through 
the  same  process  of  natural  elimination  which  we 
observed  in  the  early  history  of  words  that  clusters 
of  roots,  more  or  less  synonymous,  were  gradually 
reduced  to  one  definite  type.  ...  If  inductive 
reasoning  is  worth  any  thing,  we  are  justified  in 
believing  that  what  has  been  proved  to  be  true 
on  so  large  a  scale,  and  in  cases  where  it  was  least 
expected,  is  true  with  regard  to  language  in  general. 
We  require  no  supernatural  interference,  nor  any 
conclave  of  ancient  sages,  to  explain  the  realities  of 
human  speech.  All  that  is  formal  in  language 
is  the  result  of  rational  combination  ;  all  that  is 
material  the  result  of  a  mental  instinct.  The  first 
natural  and  instinctive  utterances,  if  sifted  differ- 
ently by  different  clans,  would  fully  account  both 
for  the  first  origin  and  for  the  first  divergence  of 
human  speech.  We  can  understand  not  only  the 
origin  of  language,  but  likewise  the  necessary  break- 
ing up  of  one  language  into  many ;  and  we  perceive 
that  no  amount  of  variety  in  the  material  or  in  the 
formal  elements  of  speech  is  incompatible  with  the 
admission  of  one  common  source.  The  Science  of 
Language  thus  leads  us  up  to  that  highest  summit 
from  whence  we  see  into  the  very  dawn  of  man's 
life  on  earth ;  and  where  the  words  which  we  have 
heard  so  often  from  the  days  of  our  childhood — 
4  And  the  whole  earth  was  of  one  language  and  of 
one  speech' — assume  a  meaning  more  natural,  more 


198  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

intelligible,    more    convincing,   than    they    ever   had 
before."  * 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  add  any  thing  further, 
although  where  there  exists  so  great  an  "embarrass- 
ment of  riches"  as  we  find  in  this  field  one  scarcely 
knows  where  to  stop.  In  bringing  this  chapter  to  a 
close,  there  exists  a  sort  of  indefinable  unsatisfaction 
in  the  writer's  own  mind  ;  for  the  subject  is  so  vast 
that  a  whole  volume,  instead  of  a  few  pages,  should 
be  devoted  thereto.  Yet  we  believe  that  there  can 
remain  no  serious  question  in  the  mind  of  any 
reader  as  to  either  the  unity  of  the  source  whence 
language  came,  or  the  divine  element  which  enters 
into  it. 

Leaving  that  inner  consciousness  which  speaks  to 
every  man  of  the  divinity  within  him  entirely  out  of 
the  present  consideration,  every  logical  mind,  tracing 
the  vast  multitudes  of  human  dialects  inward  to  a 
few  great  families,  and  these  families  to  a  compara- 
tively few  root  forms,  as  we  have  done,  and  then 
tracing  these  to  fundamental  generalizations,  which 
are  shown  to  be  entirely  outside  of  and  above  the 
powers  of  the  brute  creation,  must,  as  it  seems  to  us, 
just  by  a  purely  intellectual  or  rational  conclusion, 
arrive  at  a  point  where  he  sees  a  somewhat  which  is 
not  of  man  or  by  man  primarily  and  solely,  but  of 
God  through  man ;  constituting  a  revelation  in  and 
through  mortal  speech  of  that  immortal  One  whose 
*  Science  of  Lawjua'je,  by  M;ix  Miiller. 


In  His  Speech.  100 

only-begotten  Son,  co-equal  with  the  Father,  when  he 
came  into  the  world  to  manifest  forth  the  eternal 
God,  could  find  no  more  revelatory  name,  no  more 
communicable  term  for  the  Unsearchable  One  than 
Logos,  the  Word — the  Word,  which  was  God— the 
Word,  in  which  was  life— the  WOKD,  which  was 
the  Light  of  men. 


"On  earth  there  is  nothing  great  but  man ;  in  man  there  is  nothing 
great  but  mind." — Phavorinus. 

"  Man's  actions  here  are  of  infinite  moment  to  him,  and  never  die 
or  end  at  all.  Man  reaches  upward  high  as  heaven— downward  low 
as  hell ,'  and  in  his  threescore  years  of  time  holds  an  eternity  fear- 
fully and  wonderfully  hidden.  .  .  .  The  universe  is  the  realized 
thought  of  God." — Carhjle. 

"Thinking  is  the  talking  of  the  soul  with  itself." — Plato. 

"  Man  is  but  a  reed,  the  weakest  in  nature ;  but  he  is  a  thinking  reed." 
— Pascal. 

"  Mind  is  God's  first  end." — Charming. 

"Man,  an  image  of  the  invisible  God,  created  to  be  like  him  in 
knowledge." — Duright. 

"  Still  o'er  these  scenes  my  memory  wakes, 

And  fondly  broods  with  miser  care; 
Time  but.  the  impression  deeper  makes, 

And  streams  their  channels  deeper  wear." — Bui'ns. 

"  Keep  this  forever  in  the  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  the  heart 
of  thy  people." — David. 

"  In  man,  the  more  we  dive,  the  more  we  see 

Heaven's  signet  stamping  an  immortal  make." — Unknown. 


In  His  Mental  Chakactekistics.  201 


CHAPTER   IV. 
IN  HIS  MENTAL  CHARACTERISTICS. 

In  our  examination  of  man's  physical  structure  we 
found  many  indications  of  design  pointing  to  an  all- 
wise  Designer. 

In  the  present  chapter  we  purpose  to  take  under 
consideration  his  mental  structure.     The   treatment 
of  this  department  of  our  subject  will  of  necessity  be 
brief.     It  will  be  impossible  to  do  more  than  simply 
touch  upon  the  more  manifest  indications  of  a  su- 
preme Mind  as  seen  in  the  human  mind,  and  yet, 
even  in  this  partial  survey,  I  am  confident  that  we 
shall   not  only  find  a  satisfactory  refutation  of   all 
those  theories  of  unbelief  which  deny  the  supernatu- 
ral, and  attempt  to  reduce  man  to  a  mere  living  ma- 
chine, and  those  which   through   Agnosticism  prac- 
tically proclaim  Atheism ;  but  also  such  a  complete 
and  soul-cheering  revelation   of   God  as  has  not   re- 
warded any  of  our  previous  inquiries. 

The  subject  is  not  without  its  real  difficulties,  al- 
though the  ^m-eal  ones  are  most  numerous.  The  former 
ure  inherent  in  the  very  nature  of  the  problems  in- 
volved, and  must  be  met  as  best  they  can  under  the 
necessary  limitations  of  human  thought.     The  latter 


9* 


202  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

are  largely  the  result  of  the  metaphysical  smoke  arising 
from  the  interminable  conflicts  of  learned  disputants, 
who  seem  to  prefer  contention  to  agreement,  if  only  a 
good  opportunity  be  theirs  for  constantly  airing  their 
superior  knowledge  and  dialectical  skill.  A  few  of 
these  must  receive  attention,  merely  for  the  sake  of 
showing  them  to  be  imaginary,  and  thus  removing 
from  the  mind  of  the  general  reader  all  apprehen- 
sion of  danger  from  these  threatening  clouds  which 
hang  so  heavily  over  truth. 

One  of  these,  which  has  taken  on  immense  propor- 
tions since  the  publication  of  Immanuel  Kant's  works, 
is  agnosticism,  or  nescience— a  denial  of  the  possibil- 
ity of  real  knowledge.  It  is  a  great  bugbear  in  phi- 
losophy, and  the  more  one  examines  it  the  more  aston- 
ished does  he  become  that  sensible  men,  not  to  say 
learned  men,  should  have  ever  formulated  such  a  the- 
ory, or,  the  theory  having  been  formulated,  should 
give  it  credence;  and  yet  it  is  here,  and  seems  to 
have  "come  to  stay" — at  least  for  a  time— and  mul- 
titudes find  in  it  a  peculiar  fascination.  There  is  a 
beautifully  simulated  modesty  about  it  which  appeals 
to  certain  natures  with  great  force,  and  by  its  very 
defects  wins  recognition  and  partial  adoption. 

I  mention  this  theory  first,  because  it  lies  at  the 
threshold  of  the  door  we  are  proposing  to  enter,  and 
seems  to  entirely  block  up  the  way  by  denying  that 
we  can  know  any  thing  absolutely.  It  discredits 
e\cvy  deliverance  of  the  mind  by  declaring  it  wholly 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  203 

untrustworthy,  and  by  so  doing  virtually  denies  the 
existence  of  mind  as  commonly  understood.  For 
the  logical  consequence  of  even  a  partial  denial 
of  the  validity  of  knowledge  is  a  complete  denial. 
There  is  no  half-way  ground  on  which  to  stand.  I 
am  aware  that  agnostics  do  not  undertake  to  carry 
the  theory  to  its  logical  conclusions,  and  are  unwill- 
ing to  admit  them  when  held  up  to  their  view.  But 
refusal  to  admit  a  valid  inference  does  not  invalidate 
it.  Those  who  assume  the  unreality  of  the  primary 
knowledge  of  self,  as  self,  and  as  a  thinking  self, 
must  admit  the  absolute  banishment  of  all  certainty 
from  the  world,  even  the  certainty  of  their  own  as- 
sumed "  unreality." 

I  desire  the  reader  to  see  the  absurdity  of  this  spe- 
cious hypothesis  so  plainly  that  all  the  fair  enticing 
forms  into  which  it  has  been  thrown  may  no  longer 
exercise  the  slightest  influence  upon  his  thought.  To 
this  end  let  us  look  a  little  more  closely  at  what  we 
call  knowledge. 

Knowledge,  considered  in  its  fundamental  elements 
and  requisites,  is  one  and  the  same  in  hind,  whatever 
may  be  the  object  of  that  knowledge.  It  is  well  to 
keep  this  in  mind  ;  for  the  primary  purpose  of  agnos- 
tics is  to  prove  that  man  cannot  know  God.  In  no 
other  way  can  this  inability  be  made  to  appear 
plausible  than  by  showing  self  to  be  imaginary.  But 
even  agnostics  talk  of  knowledge  as  a  something. 
This  it    is  impossible  to  deny  without  rendering  all 


20-i  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

words  meaningless.  Now,  in  order  to  the  existence 
of  knowledge  there  must  be  something  to  be  known ; 
and  evidently  there  cannot  be  something  known  with- 
out somebody  to  know  it,  or  possess  knowledge  of  it. 
In  other  words,  there  must  be  a  thinking  person — a 
knoioer — and  an  object  to  be  known,  or  it  is  impossi- 
ble for  that  which  all  parties  call  "knowledge"  to 
exist.  Even  Herbert  Spencer,  in  his  Psychology, 
says :  "  The  co-existence  of  the  subject  and  object  is  a 
deliverance  of  consciousness  which,  taking  precedence 
of  all  analytic  examination,  is  a  truth  transcending 
all  others  in  certain  ty."  To  which  every  one  of  us 
assents.     We  cannot  do  otherwise. 

Now,  bearing  in  mind  that  knowledge  is  one  in  kind, 
take  a  step  farther.  The  notion  has  become  prevalent 
in  certain  quarters,  supposed  to  be  centers  of  learning, 
that  we  can  know  only  material  substances — only  that 
which  can  be  handled,  weighed,  or  measured,  seen, 
tasted,  smelled,  or  heard.  This  results,  doubtless,  from 
a  too  constant  consideration  of  the  material  aspects  of 
our  being.  A  fact  of  consciousness  is  as  truly  a  fact 
as  a  loaf  of  bread,  or  a  block  of  wood,  or  any  other 
material  substance ;  and  it  is  a  contradiction  of  terms 
to  affirm  that  man  cannot  absolutely  know  himself  as 
a  thinking  being  as  really  as  he  can  know  the  con- 
crete substances  of  which  he  thinks.  Those  who 
champion  this  gross  notion  argue  that  it  is  impossible 
to  know  any  thing  which  we  cannot  show  to  be  true 
by  experiment.     For  the  sake  of  the  argument,  sup- 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  205 

pose  we  grant  this.  There  is  a  possibility  of  experi- 
menting upon  the  immaterial,  in  thought,  as  really 
and  truly  as  upon  the  material. 

I  am  sitting  in  my  pulpit  on  a  Sunday  morning, 
ohserving  the  congregation  already  assembled,  and  the 
late  comers  as  they  enter  the  doors  and  pass  down  the 
aisles.  I  think  of  Mr.  A.  as  having  come  from  his 
elegant  home,  blessed  with  perfect  health,  and  having 
all  of  this  world's  goods  that  heart  can  wish.  I 
think  of  Mr.  B.  as  having  come  from  a  home  of  pov- 
erty, and  see  that  he  is  in  a  condition  of  physical  weak- 
ness. In  the  five  minutes  thus  spent  I  recognize  and 
take  note  of  a  hundred  different  faces,  and  call  up  in 
thought  a  thousand  different  circumstances. 

I  am  not  conscious  of  any  logical  processes  of 
thought.  I  know  these  faces  instantly.  It  is  act- 
ual, primary,  fundamental  sense-perception  through 
the  eyes.    This  sort  of  knowing  our  opponents  admit. 

But  now  I  submit  that  my  knowledge  of  my  own 
self,  perceiving  these  faces,  is  just  as  actual,  primary, 
and  fundamental ;  although  it  does  not  come  through 
sense-perception.  While  looking  upon  these  faces  I 
may  not  have  thought  of  myself  as  thinking ;  but, 
instantly,  upon  turning  the  mind  within,  and  asking 
what  I  am  doing,  I  become  conscious  of  rejoicing  in 
A.'s  prosperity  and  of  sorrowing  over  B.'a  hard  lot. 
I  am  conscious  that  the  rejoicing  and  the  sorrowing 
exist,  as  entities;  immaterial,  'tis  true,  but  entitles 
nevertheless,  objects  of  knowledge.      I  can  pick  them 


200  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

up  and  handle  thein,  "experiment  upon  them,"  if 
you  please,  weigh  and  measure  them,  with  a  view  to 
determining  which  is  the  greater.  Then,  with  this 
certain  knowledge  obtained,  I  look  for  the  knower, 
which  is  the  other  absolute  requisite  for  knowledge, 
and  find  it  to  be  myself.  The  existence  of  this  self 
is  just  as  certain  as  the  existence  of  the  faces,  or  the 
emotions  resulting  from  beholding  them.  I  know 
this  self-existence  intuitively.  The  knowledge  is  just 
as  actual,  primary,  and  fundamental  as  that  which 
came  through  sense-perception. 

It  would  seem  impossible  that  any  man  should  re- 
fuse to  admit  the  certainty  of  this  primary  knowledge 
of  self  as  a  knower.  But  some  men  who  claim  to 
possess  great  stores  of  knowledge,  to  be  great  "  know- 
ers,"  do  refuse  to  admit  it.  The  general  reader  may 
think  that  lam  belaboring  a  "man  of  straw,"  but  not 
so.  Professor  Huxley,  in  Lay  Sermons,  claims  that  our 
knowledge  of  any  thing  we  know  or  feel  is  "  nothing 
more  than  a  knowledge  of  states  of  consciousness  ;  " 
that  "  some  of  these  states  we  refer  to  a  cause  we 
call  self,  others  to  a  cause  or  causes  we  call  not  self, 
but  neither  of  the  existence  of  self  or  not  self  have 
we  any  certainty" — and  much  else  of  the  same  sort. 
Now,  here  is  either  an  egregious  mistake  of  a  thought- 
fill  man,  or  a  desperate  attempt  to  save  a  sinking  the- 
ory by  throwing  out  an  extremely  shadowy  plank. 

lie  either  fails  to  distinguish  the  real  nature  of 
introspection  himself,  or  hopes  to  so  befog  us  that  we 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  207 

shall  fail  to  understand  it.     I  am  inclined  to  give  him 
credit  for  honesty — and  the  blunder. 

The  fact  is,  he  nowhere  succeeds  in  giving  an}7  in- 
telligible explanation  of  what  he  means  by  this  nebu- 
lous expression,  "states  of  consciousness,"  upon  which- 
he  hopes  to  float  his  theory.  We  would  respectfully 
suggest  to  Mr.  Huxley  that  this  is  all-important.  In 
whom  do  these  "states  of  consciousness"  exist,  or  of 
what  do  they  co7is»st  f 

If  Mr.  Huxley,  or  any  other  man,  can  be  certain 
of  "states  of  consciousness,"  there  must  be,  according 
to  the  accepted  fundamentals  of  all  thinking,  some 
entity  represented  by  the  expression.  This  brings 
him  back  to  the  original  self,  and  certainty  of  the  ex- 
istence of  self,  and  he  finds  that  he  has  simply  been 
dealing  with  the  same  substance  under  a  different  name, 
fondly  imagining  that  he  had  found  something  new. 
And  Huxley  is  only  one  of  several  illustrious  men  of 
similar  views,  all  of  whom  have  numerous  followers. 

I  think  the  reader  will  agree  with  me,  that  the 
absurdity  of  agnosticism  is  so  manifest  that  Chris- 
tian scholars  need  not  be  disturbed  by  it ;  and  yet 
I  desire  to  record  the  opinions  of  those  whose  au- 
thority is  of  greater  weight  than  mine.  Samuel 
Harris,  LL.D.,  says :  "  Agnosticism  belies  the  consti- 
tution and  consciousness  of  man,  debars  itself  from 
the  possibility  of  argument  in  its  own  support,  and 
contradicts  and  nullifies  itself.  It  is  impossible  to 
appeal  to  knowledge  in  proof  that  knowledge  is  im- 


20S  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

possible,  or  to  reason,  to  prove  that  reason  is  irra- 
tional or  untrustworthy." 

We  find  the  opinion  of  Augustine  quaintly  and 
vigorously  expressed  in  Civitas  Dei:  "I  am  most 
certain  that  I  am,  and  I  know  this  and  delight  in  it. 
In  respect  to  these  truths  I  am  not  at  all  afraid  of  the 
arguments  of  the  academicians  .who  say,  '  What  if 
you  are  deceived  V  If  I  am  deceived,  I  am.  For  he 
who  is  not,  cannot  be  deceived  ;  and  if  I  am  deceived, 
by  this  token  I  am.  And  since  I  am,  if  I  am  de- 
ceived, how  am  I  deceived  in  believing  that  /  am? 
for  it  is  certain  that  I  am,  if  I  am  deceived.  Since, 
therefore,  /,  the  person  deceived,  should  .fo,  even  if  I 
were  deceived,  certainly  I  am  not  deceived  in  the 
knowledge  that  /  am.  Consequently,  neither  am  I 
deceived  in  knowing  that  /  know.  For  as  I  know 
that  I  am,  so  I  know  this  also — that  I  know." 

No  author  whom  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  read 
has  summed  up  the  whole  matter  in  few  words  more 
completely  than  St.  George  Mivart,  F.E.S.,  in  Les- 
sons from  Nature  as  Manifested  in  Mind  and  Mat- 
ter. He  says :  "  Absolute  skepticism,  with  every  po- 
sition that  necessarily  involves  it,  is  to  be  rejected  as 
an  absurdity.  For,  if  nothing  is  certain,  if  there  is 
no  real  distinction  between  truth  and  falsehood,  there 
can,  of  course,  be  no  useful  discussion.  If  our  life 
may  be  a  dream  within  a  dream,  if  we  may  not  be 
supremely  sure  that  a  thing  cannot  both  he  and  not  he, 
at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  sense,  then  thinking 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  209 

may  indeed  be  affirmed  to  be  an  idle  waste  of  thought, 
were  it  not  impossible  to  affirm  that  any  thing  is  or 
is  not  any  thing,  and  as  impossible  to  affirm  such  im- 
possibility. Such  skepticism  is,  of  course,  as  prac- 
tically impossible  as  it  is  absurd."  Of  the  same  opin- 
ion is  the  celebrated  Hermann  Lotze,  as  expressed  in 
his  Logic,  published  in  Oxford,  in  1884,  in  three 
books,  "Thought,"  "Investigation,"  and  "Knowl- 
edge," and  also  in  his  Metaphysics,  in  three  books, 
"Ontology,"  "Cosmology,"  and  "Psychology,"  pub- 
lished the  same  year. 

After  taking  up  and  most  thoroughly  exposing  the 
fallacies  of  the  experimentalists  and  semi-agnostics, 
he  scatters  out-and-out  agnosticism  to  the  winds  as 
follows:  "It  must  seem  utterly  inconceivable  that  we 
should  ask  for  the  '  what '  of  a  thing  and  yet  look 
for  the  answer  in  any  thing  except  that  which  this 
thing  is  and  does  ;  or  that  we  should  inquire  as  to 
its  '  being,'  and  yet  seek  this  anywhere  except  in  its 
activity.  And  in  the  same  way  here,  it  must  seem 
equally  unintelligible  that  we  should  suppose  we  do 
not  know  the  soul,  because,  although  we  know  all  its 
acts,  we  are  unluckily  ignorant  of  the  elastic  sphere 
to  which,  according  to  Kant's  comparison,  the  nature 
manifested  in  these  acts  is  attached ;  or  that  instead 
of  seeking  the  living  reality  of  the  soul  in  its  produc- 
tion of  ideas,  emotions,  aud  efforts,  we  should  look 
for  it  in  a  nameless  '  Being,'  from  which  these  con- 
crete  forms  of  action   could  not  flow,  but  in  which, 


210  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

after  some  manner  never  to  be  explained,  tliey  are 
supposed  to  participate.  .  .  .  Every  soul  is  what  it 
shows  itself  to  be,  unity  whose  life  is  in  definite  ideas, 
feelings,  and  efforts.  .  .  .  Within  this  sphere  the  soul 
shows  itself  to  be  to  a  certain  extent  an  independent 
center  of  actions  and  reactions  ;  and  in  so  far  as  it 
does  so,  and  so  long  as  it  does  so,  it  has  a  claim  to  the 
title  of  substance." 

This  is  strong  language  to  come  from  such  a  source 
on  this  subject ;  for,  if  we  were  to  believe  the  state- 
ments made  in  some  of  the  more  popular  philosoph- 
ical publications  of  the  past  two  years,  we  should  be 
obliged  to  place  Hermann  Lotze  among  the  sup- 
porters of  a  semi-agnostic  materialism. 

It  is  always  safest  to  examine  the  writings  of  such 
a  man  for  ourselves,  for  there  is  a  fixed  determination 
in  many  pseudo-scientific  quarters  to  range  every 
illustrious  name  on  the  side  of  infidelity. 

We  feel  warranted  in  concluding  that  the  dense  fo^- 
bank  of  agnosticism,  which  seemed  like  a  mountain  ly- 
ing at  the  very  threshold  of  our  subject,  has  vanished 
from  the  sight  of  the  reader;  and  we  may  assume  the 
existence  of  a  thinking  power  in  man,  and  proceed  to 
examine  it,  as  to  its  constitution  and  characteristics, 
with  the  same  confidence  with  which  we  enter  upon 
the  examination  of  any  other  subject 

It  becomes  necessary  in  this  examination  to  con- 
sider first  of  all  certain  claims  which  have  been  set 
up,  and  stoutly  championed,  by  those  disciples  of  phys- 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  211 

ical  science  wlio  are  bending  every  energy  of  their  nat- 
ures to  the  banishment  of  God  from  his  universe. 

Positivism,  and  its  corollary,  or  logical  sequent, 
secularism,  is  so  allied  to  agnosticism  that  whatever 
refutes  one  refutes  the  other;  therefore  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  give  it  any  special  notice  at  this  point,  and 
we  invite  attention  to  that  phase  of  materialism  which 
pertains  to  our  present  inquiry. 

Not  content  with  endeavoring  to  prove  that  matter 
is  eternal,  and  ordinary  animal  life  the  result  of  ma- 
terial forces  exercised  in  some  sort  of  a  self-organ  iza- 
tion,  materialistic  philosophers  have  been  making 
strenuous  efforts  to  show  that  even  the  human  mind, 
with  all  its  varied  endowments  of  consciousness, 
memory,  reason,  will,  etc.,  is,  after  all,  only  a  "  mode 
of  motion,"  a  "peculiar  manifestation  of  force,"  a 
"  striking  correlation  of  nervous  energies,"  a  "  highly 
specialized  arrangement  of  atoms  " — in  a  word,  any 
thing  which  you  please  to  call  it,  if  only  you  make 
use  of  materialistic  terminology. 

These  men  of  science  profess  to  do  simply  this — 
when  stripped  of  all  disguises  and  glosses  of  language 
— reduce  mind  and  spirit  to  matter.  Then,  having 
nothing  to  account  for  in  man,  or  the  whole  animal 
creation,  except  organized  matter,  find  the  origin  of 
all  its  varied  forms  in  unorganized  matter,  and  thus 
shut  God  out  of  the  calculation. 

At  first  thought  it  would  seem  that  there  could  be 
no  occasion  for  the  refutation  of  such  an  hypothesis, 


212  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

for  the  simple  reason  that  sober-minded  men  would 
not  be  influenced  by  any  thing  so  contrary  to  con- 
sciousness. 

But  so   oreat  has  been  the  advancement  of  material 

o 

science  in  the  last  fifty  years,  so  astonishing  have 
been  her  triumphs  over  the  obstacles  previously  bar- 
ring up  her  way,  that  men  have  come  to  look  it  pun 
her  as  supreme,  and  vast  multitudes  are  ready  to 
write  "  Omnipotent"  as  one  of  her  titles,  while  the 
increased  facilities  of  communication  and  multiplied 
comforts  of  life  secured  by  these  triumphs  have 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  scientific  men  the  largest 
wealth,  and  won  for  them  the  most  enthusiastic 
praise ;  hence,  very  naturally,  men  are  inclined  to 
accept  their  deliverances  as  final,  and  be  guided  by 
them,  even  in  matters  outside  of  their  own  legitimate 
domain. 

I  would  not  be  understood  to  teach,  by  the  phrase 
"  their  own  legitimate  domain,"  that  men  should  be 
confined  to  any  one  special  line  of  investigation  or 
search  for  truth.  On  the  contrary,  I  would  urge  upon 
every  scholar  the  importance  of  becoming  acquainted 
with  all  departments  of  learning,  and  as  far  as  possi- 
ble mastering  the  fundamentals,  at  least,  of  all  the 
sciences.  But  the  difficulty  lies  in  this  :  that  many  of 
those  who  have  accomplished  much  in  the  physical 
sciences,  and  a  few  who  have  become  preeminent 
therein,  have  presumed  to  condemn,  without  investi- 
gation, the  mental   and  moral  sciences,  even  to   the 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  213 

extent  of  denying  them  the  name  of  sciences,  and 
scoffing  at  their  advocates  as  men  of  "  narrow  minds,11 
of  "  undeveloped  reasoning  faculties,"  of  "  fossilized 
ideas,"  or  "  moss-covered  theological  vagaries,"  utter- 
ly incapable  of  appreciating  the  "  scientific  method  " 
and  the  marvelous  progress  of  the  present  age  ;  while, 
without  having  given  one  hour  a  week  on  the  aver- 
age, during  the  whole  period  of  their  scientific  career, 
to  the  serious  study  of  mental  science  from  a  theolog- 
ico-moral  stand-point,  they  esteem  themselves  capable 
of  pronouncing  authoritatively  upon  all  ethical  and 
biblical  questions.  This  is  by  no  means  the  animus 
of  the  truly  great  men  of  science,  of  those  who  have 
actually  done  most  toward  bringing  about  the  un- 
paralleled progress  of  recent  years,  but  simply  of  the 
few  eminent  men  who  have  made  the  most  noise, 
and  the  multitude  of  would-be  imitators,  who  are 
eagerly  striving  to  gain  recognition  by  becoming 
faithful  echoes. 

Genuine  science,  like  genuine  religion,  is  modest 
and  child-like  in  spirit  and  bearing.  Both  have  the 
same  divine  authorship.  Spurious  science,  like  spu- 
rious religion,  is  self-asserting,  arrogant,  puffed  up, 
doth  "  behave  itself  unseemly."  Both  have  the 
same  earthly  authorship. 

Professor  Tyndall  says  :  "  Not  alone  the  exquisite 
mechanism  of  the  human  body,  but  the  human  mind 
itself,  emotion,  intellect,  will,  and  all  their  phenomena, 
were  once  latent  in  a  fiery  cloud."     Bear  in  mind, 


214  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

then,  that,  if  materialism  be  true,  there  is  no  more  in- 
dication of  supernatural  power  in  the  mind  of  an 
Aristotle,  a  Homer,  or  a  Webster  than  in  the  pulp  of 
a  jelly-fish  or  the  claw  of  a  lobster. 

This  is  not  generally  admitted  by  even  the  advo- 
cates of  the  materialism  of  the  present  time.  Never- 
theless, the  logical  conclusion  of  all  materialistic  the- 
ories is  just  what  we  have  indicated,  and  no  theory  is 
worth  any  thing  which  cannot  abide  its  own  inevit- 
able results. 

Lange  says  :  "  Sensationalism  is  the  subjective  of 
which  materialism  is  the  objective."  If  this  bj  true 
— and  I  have  yet  to  find  that  it  has  been  successfully 
denied — it  is  possible,  at  the  outset,  to  place  material- 
ism in  contradiction  with  itself,  and,  were  it  our 
pleasure  so  to  do,  we  might  leave  this  house,  so  greatly 
lauded  for  its  material  strength,  thus  "  divided 
against  itself,"  to  bring  about  its  own  demolition. 

Those  infidels  who  talk  so  flippantly  about  the  con- 
tradictions of  the  Bible  would  do  well  to  cease  re- 
affirming these  unimportant  and,  for  the  most  part, 
imaginary  discrepancies,  and  turn  their  attention  to 
the  endless  contradictions  of  their  own  cherished  the- 
ories, many  of  which  agree  in  only  one  particular ; 
namely,  in  declaring  that  "  the  Bible  is  not  what  it 
claims  to  be." 

But  we  must  look  a  little  more  closely  at  a  few  of 
the  exact  puttings  of  this  theory  as  related  to  mind. 
Close    acquaintance   reveals   character.      Those  who 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  215 

Lave  been  attracted  by  the  fair  exterior  will  perhaps 

loathe  the  inner  nature. 

I  am  not  sure  that  there  is  any  essential  difference 
between  the  old  and  the  new  save  in  the  dress,  the 
style,  the  rhetoric  of  the  putting.  For  example,  we 
find  in  the  writings  of  Cabanis,  one  of  the  old-time 
materialists,  the  following :  "  The  brain  secretes 
thought  as  the  liver  secretes  bile;"  and  polite  natural- 
ism of  a  later  period  curls  its  lip  and  elevates  its  nose 
at  the  offensive  language,  but  fully  adopts  the  teach- 
ing notwithstanding ;  for  in  a  work  to  which  I  have 
already  made  reference  in  a  former  chapter,  entitled, 
Kraft  und  Stoft,  the  erudite  Buchner  claims  that 
"  mental  activity  is  a  function  of  the  cerebral  sub- 
stance. The  same  power  which  digests  by  means  of 
the  stomach  thinks  by  means  of  the  brain.  As  there 
is  no  bile  without  liver,  so  there  is  no  thought  without 
brain.  The  secretion  of  the  liver  and  kidneys  pro- 
ceeds imperceptibly,  and  produces  a  tangible  sub- 
stance. In  so  far  it  is  superior  to  the  secretion  of 
thought.  Mental  activity  is  emitted  by  the  brain 
as  sounds  are  by  the  mouth,  as  music  is  by  the 
organ." 

This  is  certainly  a  frank  putting  of  the  case.  Ev- 
ery body  can  see  just  what  is  meant.  Without  any 
sophistries  of  statement  the  avowal  is  made  that  the 
brain,  this  gray  substance  of  which  we  have  been 
speaking,  can  and  does  make  emotion,  will,  and  imag- 
ination, poems,  orations,  and  essays,  out  of  the  blood 


216  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

which  flows  to  it,  just  as  the  stomach  makes  chyme 
out  of  the  food  and  drink  we  swallow.  To  manufact- 
ure another  "  Paradise  Lost,"  or  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, it  were  only  necessary  to  set  the  gray  pulp 
of  the  cerebrum  at  work  upon  its  constituent  fluids 
and  solids,  as  the  liver  would  go  to  work  upon  the 
fluids  and  solids  passing  through  it.  And  now  I 
imagine  I  hear  some  astonished  reader — astonished 
because  he  has  not  been  accustomed  to  reading1  or 
hearing  the  exact  utterances  of  materialism,  but 
rather  its  dogmatic  assertions  concerning  Bible  truth 
— saying  within  himself,  "  Did  sane  men  ever  make 
such  declarations  as  these  ?  Are  such  statements  to 
be  found  in  published  volumes?"  And  I  answer, 
"  Yes ;  and  much  more  of  the  same  sort."  As  to 
their  sanity  I  care  not  to  be  asked  to  pronounce. 

The  bald  statements  are  before  the  reader  in  the 
exact  language  of  the  writers.  Still  the  reader  is 
perhaps  incredulous  as  to  so  manifest  an  absurdity 
being  seriously  advocated  by  any  body  at  the  present 
day.  If  so,  let  him  turn  to  Lewes's  great  work,  Prob- 
lems of  Life  and  Mind,  and  he  will  And  whole  chap- 
ters given  to  statements  similar  to,  or  in  support  of, 
the  following :  "  The  neural  process  and  the  feeling 
are  one  and  the  same  process,  viewed  under  different 
aspects.  Mind  is  a  function  of  the  organism,  and  this 
both  in  the  mathematical  and  the  biological  sense  of 
the  term.  Intelligence  is  the  sum  of  the  nervous  ad- 
justments on  which  organic  actions  depend,  and  the 


In  IJis  Mental  Characteristics.  217 

sum  of  organized  experiences  which  determine 
conduct." 

This  may  be  a  little  smoother  language  than  Biich- 
ner's,  but  it  means  the  same.  It  may  not  be  quite 
as  offensive  to  the  taste  as  the  statement,  "  the  brain 
secretes  thought  as  the  liver  secretes  bile,"  but  it  is 
equally  offensive  to  reason. 

Bishop  Thomson  has  well  said,  "If  the  brain  se- 
cretes the  mind  it  is  different  from  the  mind,  and 
hence  it  should  be  provided  with  an  apparatus  like 
the  gall-bladder  to  receive  its  product.  It  has  been 
conjectured  that  a  part  of  the  brain  has  been  reserved 
for  this  purpose,  which  has  been  compared  to  a  cal- 
culating machine.  The  hypothesis  breaks  down  un- 
der its  weight  of  absurdity.  Mind  is  different  in  its 
nature  from  matter.  Mind  is  self-active,  capable  of 
controlling  its  principles  and  trains  of  thought.  We 
address  logic  to  the  mind,  but  not  to  the  liver.  You 
cannot  make  a  man  a  Calvinist  by  calomel,  or  a 
Universalist  by  belladonna.  You  cannot  cure  rheu- 
matism with  Calvinism,  or  neuralgia  with  Armin- 
ianism."  * 

Attention  is  also  invited  to  the  palpable  absurdity, 
and  contradictory  nature,  of  the  positions  taken  by 
scientific  evolutionists  who  refuse  to  be  called  mate- 
rialists. Perhaps  Haeckel  stands  among  the  fore- 
most of  these,  and  in  order  that  the  reader  may  un- 
derstand the  position  he  occupies  I  quote  a  brief  pas- 

*  Evidences  nf  Ffvpohd  Religion,  p.  48. 
10 


218  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

sage  from  the  concluding  chapter  of  his  Evolution  of 
Man,  entitled  "  Results  of  Anthropogeny."  He  has 
conducted  his  reader  through  twenty-live  long  chap- 
ters, and  exhibited  the  strongest  possible  phases  of 
evolution  and  the  monistic  philosophy,  and  here  he 
sums  up  the  whole  matter : 

"  This  mechanical  or  monistic  philosophy  asserts 
that  every-where  the  phenomena  of  human  life,  as 
well  as  those  of  external  nature,  are  under  the  con- 
trol of  fixed  and  unalterable  laws.  It  further  asserts 
that  all  phenomena  are  produced  by  mechanical 
causes,  not  by  pre-arranged,  purposive  causes.  In 
the  light  of  this  monistic  conception  of  nature,  even 
those  phenomena  which  we  have  been  accustomed  to 
regard  as  most  free  and  independent,  the  expressions 
of  the  human  will,  appear  as  subject  to  fixed  laws  as 
any  other  natural  phenomena.  Man  is  not  above 
nature,  but  in  nature.  The  real  materialistic  philoso- 
phy asserts  that  the  vital  phenomena  of  motion,  like 
all  other  phenomena  of  motion,  are  effects  or  prod- 
ucts of  matter." 

Here  the  reader  notices  the  surprising  inconsistency 
of  this  great  evolutionist,  and  no  doubt  feels  inclined 
to  discount  his  abilities ;  but  be  not  too  severe  upon 
him.  He  is  simply  making  a  masterly  effort  to  extri- 
cate himself  from  the  dilemma  into  which  his  theories 
have  brought  him,  and  is  not  to  blame  for  some  man- 
ifestations of  discomfiture.  You  or  I  would  do  the 
same  if  in  the  same  hard  case. 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  210 

Lest  I  should  seem  to  unwarrantably  magnify  the 
inconsistencies  of  this  "monistic  philosophy,"  which, 
after  all,  refuses  to  be  called  materialism,  I  give  the 
well-chosen  words  of  Dr.  Diman :  "  The  strongest 
intellectual  attraction  of  materialism  consists  in  the 
fact  that  it  is  a  system  of  monism  ;  it  apparently  sat- 
isfies the  craving  for  unity  which  is  so  deeply  planted 
in  the  human  mind,  and  which  receives  new  support 
with  the  progress  of  knowledge.  We  may  assume, 
without  hesitation,  that  a  monistic  theory  is  the  ex- 
pression of  rational  thought.  Human  intelligence 
instinctively  conceives  of  all  co-ordinate  causes  as  sec- 
ondary. But  the  evident  argument  against  material- 
ism is  that  it  does  not  meet  this  very  want.  Sup- 
posing matter  to  have  been  reduced  to  a  single, 
pure,  homogeneous  physical  element,  we  have  still  to 
explain  the  fact  that,  in  all  the  phenomena  of  the 
universe,  matter  is  always  combined  with  force.  It 
is  not  dead  matter  with  which  we  deal,  but  matter 
organized,  and  undergoing  incessant  and  universal 
transmutations.  The  question  at  once  arises,  Is  mat- 
ter the  cause  of  force,  or  is  force  the  cause  of  mat- 
ter? Unless  one  of  these  questions  be  answered  in 
the  affirmative,  we  have  two  original  principles  in  the 
universe  instead  of  one,  and  thus,  at  the  first  step, 
sacrifice  that  principle  of  unity  on  which  scientific 
materialism  so  much  prides  itself.  For,  evidently,  if 
force  and  matter  be  conceived  of  as  not  related  as 
cause  and  effect,  but  as  inseparable  and  co-ordinate, 


220  Man  a  Eevelation  of  God. 

we   have  two  eternal  principles  instead  of  one,  and 
the  boasted  monism  of  materialism  is  merged  in  du- 
alism.    The  perplexity   of  the  problem  is  not  less- 
ened but  increased.     If,  on  the  other  hand,  force  be 
conceived  as  the  cause  of  matter,  we  preserve  unity 
but  we  destroy  materialism.     For  we  trace  the  exist- 
ence of  matter  to  an  immaterial  source;  it  becomes  at 
once  secondary  and  dependent.     If  reason  pursues  its 
search  for  unity  it  cannot  stop  with  physical  force, 
for  a  universe  of  physical  force  would  be  simply  an 
aggregate  of  forces.     Behind  the  multiplicity  of  nat- 
ural  forces  there  must  reside  some  single,  original, 
and  indivisible  power.     But  when  we  have  reached 
this  conclusion,  we  are  on  the  threshold  of  the  great 
truth  that  the  universe  had  its  origin  in  mind.    Thus, 
in  this  whole  discussion  of  matter  and  force,  material- 
ism is   involved   in  fatal  contradictions.     As  a  rea- 
soned system  of  the  universe  it  goes  beyond  its  own 
limits,  and  falsifies  its  own  premises.     For  material- 
ism, so  far  as  it  claims  any  logical  basis,  rests  on  the 
postulate  that  all  knowledge  is  attained  through  the 
organs  of  sense,  and  that    beyond  what  the   senses 
report,  and  the  generalizations  from  this,  we  know 
and  can  know  nothing.     The  properties  of  matter,  it 
is  claimed,  are  the  sole,  the  direct,  the  immediate  ob- 
jects of  the  senses :  and  the  facts  of  nature  do  not 
demand  for  their  explanation  any  thing  distinct  from 
matter.       Materialism,  of  necessity,  involves  sensa- 
tionalism, and  sensationalism  necessarily  signifies  that 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  221 

all  knowledge  of  matter  is  dependent  on  the  particu- 
lar constitution  of  the  senses  of  the  individual.  The 
materialist  cannot  pretend  to  any  knowledge  of  mat- 
ter as  it  is  in  itself;  it  can  exist  for  him  only  so  far 
as  his  senses  perceive  it  to  exist. 

"  Yet  the  whole  system  of  scientific  materialism  is 
built  up  on  the  assumption  of  the  real  and  independent 
existence  of  force  and  matter.  We  are  told  that  force 
and  matter  are  eternal ;  that  they  are  absolutely  in- 
capable of  increase  or  diminution,  of  creation  or  an- 
nihilation. On  what  evidence  are  these  assertions 
made  ?  Is  the  eternity  of  matter  or  of  force  any  thing 
which  the  senses  report  to  us?  Or  is  it  a  legitimate 
generalization  from  any  thing  that  the  senses  report? 
When  he  ventures  to  make  these  assertions,  the  ma- 
terialist asserts  something  that  he  could  by  no  possi- 
bility have  learned  through  his  senses,  and  something 
that  no  experiment  of  science  could  have  demon- 
strated. 

"Modern  materialism  rests  throughout  upon  a  series 
of  realistic  hypotheses,  and  yet  these  hypotheses,  from 
its  own  stand-point,  are  wholly  untenable.  Material- 
ism claims  to  be  a  system  which  appeals  only  to  prin- 
ciples that  are  rigidly  scientific,  yet  it  cannot  reach 
one  of  the  conclusions  on  which  it  strongly  insists 
without  setting  these  principles  aside."  ' 

I  am  confident  that  those  of  my  readers  who  have 
examined  the  writings  of  materialistic  science  with 
*  The  Theistic  Argument,  by  I.  Lewis  Diman,  pp.  349;  350. 


222  Man  a  Eevelation  of  God. 

any  care  will  agree  with  the  conclusion  here  reached. 
For,  although  many  valuable  facts  are  brought  to 
light  by  materialists,  for  which  every  genuine  inves- 
tigator is  always  thankful,  when  it  comes  to  theories 
and  philosophical  conclusions  their  inherent  incon- 
sistencies are  so  great  that  all  manner  of  verbal  hedg- 
ing and  fencing  are  indulged  in. 

The  truth  is,  as  I  think  will  appear  to  every  reader, 
that  materialism,  so  far  from  proving  a  help  to  the 
establishment  of  that  uniformity  of  nature's  on-goings, 
in  which  materialistic  scientists  seem  to  take  so  great 
delight,  actually  hinders  it.  "We  who  contend  that 
there  is  "  a  spirit  in  man  :  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
Almighty  giveth  them  understanding,"  that  matter  is 
under  the  control  of  mind,  and  man's  will  free,  that  it 
is  this  immaterial  part  of  us  which  constitutes  that 
imasre  of  the  divine  in  which  we  claim  to  have  been 
created,  do  not  hereby  contend  that  the  order  of  the 
universe  is  left  entirely  to  the  caprice  of  man's  will, 
as  our  opponents  endeavor  to  make  it  appear.  We 
do  not  combat  a  truly  scientific  doctrine  of  "  persist- 
ence of  force,"  or  "indestructibility  of  matter,"  or 
"  cosmic  and  vital  development,"  or  any  other  authen- 
ticated datum  of  established  science.  On  the  con- 
traiw,  as  has  been  already  shown,  our  opponents  are 
the  men  who  are  smiting  themselves  in  the  face,  and 
then  complaining  of  unfair  treatment  from  lis. 

But,  with  all  its  inconsistencies  and  contradictions, 
"materialism  is  abroad,"  and  it  has  obtained  a  mighty 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  223 

grasp  upon  the  thought  of  the  age.  It  should  receive 
the  most  careful  attention  from  every  friend  of  truth, 
especially  as  related  to  psychology. 

Here  it  is  most  insidious  in  its  elementary  appeals 
to  belief.  It  lays  down  certain  fundamental  princi- 
ples which  every  body  readily  admits,  and  by  gradual 
advances  reaches  out  into  the  inadmissible,  and  even 
the  unthinkable;  but  does  it  so  deftly  that  the  un- 
wary are  easily  led  captive  by  its  subtle  genius— the 
more  easily,  since  its  leadings  harmonize  with  the 
natural  propensities  of  human  nature. 

All  parties  are  ready  to  grant  that  the  relations  ex- 
isting between  mind  and  body  are  very  intimate;  that 
mind,  as  we  know  it,  does  not  exist  without  body. 
Man  is  not  all  soul,  neither  is  he  all  body,  but  is  both. 
Thus  much  physiology  teaches  us.     This  she  does,  by 
calling  our  attention  to  those  organs  of  the  body  most 
closely  associated  with  the  mind,  and  the  characteristic 
phenomena  which  accompany  cerebral  action.     In  a 
former  chapter  attention  was  called  to  the  marvelous 
structure  of  the  nervous  system,  and  we  there  found 
marked  indications  of  All-wise  design.     We  do  not 
wonder  that  physiologists,  constantly  engaged  in  the 
study  of   physical  phenomena,  constantly  employed 
with  their  vivisections,  chemical  reactions,  and  end- 
less experiments,  should  come  to   almost  expect  to 
find  the  very  seat  of  life,  the  very  inmost  soul  of 

man. 

The  tracing  of  these  experiments  is  full  of  genuine 


2:21  Man  a  Revelation  of   God. 

interest,  as  far  as  they  pertain  to  the  legitimate  domain 
of  physiology,  and  are  performed  by  men  of  recog- 
nized standing  in  that  department  of  science.  All 
that  we  complain  of  is  that  semi-scientific  philosophers 
are  constantly  endeavoring  to  substantiate  some  skep- 
tical theory  of  irreligion,  by  appeals  to  data  which 
have  never  been  themselves  substantiated.  Of  all 
the  non-sequiters  that  have  been  foisted  upon  the 
world,  some  of  the  most  far-fetched  are  met  with  in 
the  writings  of  these  theologico-physiological  philos- 
ophers, some  of  whom  would  appear  to  possess  very 
little  actual  knowledge  of  physiology,  but  to  be  adepts 
in  the  use  of  elastic  inference. 

Sensory  impressions  are  made  upon  the  nervous 
system;  which,  in  its  minute  ramifications,  reaches 
every  part  of  the  body,  and  somehow  these  impres- 
sions are  communicated  to  the  mind. 

The  most  superficial  observation  leads  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  central  organ  of  thought  and  action 
is  within  the  skull.  Proceeding  to  the  study  of  this 
central  organ,  we  find  it  made  up  of  various  lobes, 
and  of  two  distinct  kinds  of  substance,  and  divided 
into  two  hemispheres,  or  halves. 

Careful  investigation  has  enabled  us  to  assign  to 
the  upper  and  forward  portion  of  the  brain,  called  the 
cerebrum,  the  larger  share  in  all  intellectual  proc- 
esses. Thus  far  we  all  a^ree.  The  intimate  relation 
existing  between  the  various  organs  and  parts  of  the 
body,   and    this   cerebrum,   through    the    marvelous 


In  His  Mental  Chabactebistics.  225 

nervo-telegrapliie  communication,  is  patent  to  every 
student ;  and  yet  one  would  conclude,  from  the  patron- 
izing air  with  which  certain  infidel  philosophers  in- 
form us  of  this  intimate  relation,  that  it  was  a  new 
discovery,  on  which  they  had  some  special  claim.  But 
when  these  same  would-be  informants  proceed  to  in- 
struct us  that  the  cerebrum  is  the  mind — that  memory, 
reason,  emotion — in  a  word,  the  whole  mind — is  only 
so  much  pulpy  gray  substance — they  are  taking  a  long 
stride  into  the  unknown,  and  we  cannot  go  with  them. 
It  is  true  that  thought,  as  we  know  it  cannot  exist 
without  the  brain,  but  it  is  equally  true  that  the  brain 
can  exist  without  thought.  This  will  be  universally 
admitted,  and  this  admission  necessitates  the  farther 
admission  that  thought  is  not  the  brain,  for,  if  it 
were,  the  brain  could  not  exist  without  it. 

Let  the  reader  carefully  note  that  I  say,  "  Thought, 
as  we  know  it,  cannot  exist  without  the  brain,"  for  we 
believe  that  thought,  as  existing  in  God  and  the  spir- 
itual realm  generally,  does  exist  without  the  materia! 
brain.  The  gray  substance  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
thought  in  our  present  existence,  just  as  the  writer's 
pen,  or  its  equivalent,  is  absolutely  necessary  to  his 
writing ;  but  who  will  say  that  the  pen  is  the 
writing  ? 

The  latest  investigations  in  physiological  science 
leave  the  problem  of  the  body's  relation  to  the  mind 
just  here — declaring  the  former  to  be  but  the  instru- 
ment of  the  latter,  and  the  brain  to  be  a  part  of  the 
10* 


226  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

body.  Hence  the  final  conclusion  of  all  genuine  sci- 
ence is  that  the  mind  of  man  is  not  material,  but  that 
it  must  work  through  a  material  instrument  as  long  as 
it  remains  under  our  observation.  This  appears  to 
me  a  sufficient  answer  to  all  objectors  who  would  ma- 
terialize mind  and  its  phenomena,  but  I  am  glad  to 
support  my  own  opinion  with  that  of  others. 

The  author  of  Cosmic  Philosophy,  Professor  Fisk, 
says  :  u  One  grand  result  of  the  enormous  progress 
achieved  during  the  last  forty  years,  in  the  analysis 
of  both  psychical  and  physical  phenomena,  has  been 
the  final  and  irretrievable  overthrow  of  the  material- 
istic hypothesis.1'  The  author  of  the  Philosophical 
Basis  of  Theism,  Professor  Harris,  says  :  "  Material- 
ism is  essentially  the  dogmatic  assertion  that  all  phe- 
nomena are  the  manifestations  of  matter  and  force  and 
are  accounted  for  by  them.  Mental  phenomena  are 
realities  which  materialists  do  not  deny,  but  which 
they  try  to  account  for  as  manifestations  of  matter 
and  force.  But  they  are  proved  to  be  not  the  mani- 
festations of  matter  and  force,  and  not  accounted  for  by 
them.  .  .  .  And  this  conclusion  implies  that  material- 
ism, as  a  philosophical  theory  of  the  universe,  is  an 
entire  failure.  .  .  .  That  the  physical  phenomena  recog- 
nized by  science  as  concomitant  with  mental  phe- 
nomena are  themselves,  as  explanations  of  the  mental 
phenomena,  inconceivable,  and  involve  insuperable 
difficulties." 

Sir  William  Dawson,  in  a  treatise  on  the  same  sub- 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  227 

ject,  says  :  "  It  has  become  evident  that  the  more  re- 
cent discoveries  as  to  the  functions  of  brain  will  not 
warrant  the  extreme  views  of  materialists.     Force, 
whatever  may  be  its  true  character,  is  now  regarded 
as  something  distinct  from  matter,  and  that  by  means 
of  which  matter  is  put  into  motion,  and  consequently 
eventuates  in  the  phenomena  with  which  we  are  fa- 
miliar.   Now,  man  is  essentially  an  active  power,  who 
by  his  volition  puts  forth  forces  to  mold  and  change 
material  things.     These  do  not  originate  in  any  part 
of  his  body,  which  is  simply  an  instrument  employed 
by  the  mind,  but  in  his  spiritual  nature,  which  is  in 
reality  his  true  self.     The  action  of  mind  upon  and 
through  the  body   manifests  the  operation  of  a  con- 
scious force  which  can  have  originated  in  nothing  but 
spirit,  and  the  cessation  of  the  operation  of  that  force 
and  the  negation  of  consciousness  is  utterly  impossible 

to  conceive."* 

Without  further  citation  of  authorities,  or  further 
development  of  the  argument,  I  feel  warranted  in 
proceeding  to  consider  the  characteristics  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  assuming  the  demonstrated  existence  of 
not  merely  a  thinking  power  in  man,  as  opposed  to 
the  doctrine  of  agnosticism,  but  also  of  a  real  entity, 
distinct  from  body,  which  we  call  mind,  as  opposed  to 
materialism,  positivism,  sensationalism,  evolutionism, 
and  any  and  every  other  ism  which  undertakes  to 
deny  such  entity. 

*  Revelation  ami  Natural  Science,  p.  31. 


22S  Man  a  Kevelation  of  God. 

I  believe  that,  without  laying  ourselves  open  to  the 
charge  of  "  begging  the  question,"  we  may  speak  of 
the  manifestations  of  that  entity  in  the  terms  which 
men  in  general  are  accustomed  to  apply  to  the  mani- 
festations of  mind,  and  seek  for  a  revelation  of  God 
therein. 

The  characteristics  of  the  mind  which  furnish  indi- 
cations of  a  divine  Author  are  so  numerous,  and  strik- 
ing, that  I  cannot  hope  to  give  to  each  one  the  atten- 
tion it  deserves,  but  may  simply  notice  a  few,  and 
these  without  any  pretensions  to  either  logical  se- 
quence or  completeness. 

Intuition. 

I  would  first  call  attention  to  intuition,  not  with  the 
purpose  of  discussing  this  power  philosophically,  but 
with  a  view  to  discovering  therein  indications  of  the 
divine  image. 

It  is  by  the  intuitive  power  of  the  mind  that  we 
become  acquainted  with  the  universal  principles  which 
underlie  all  correct  thinking.  Intuition  gives  us  uni- 
versal truths  or  self-evident  knowledge,  as,  for  exam- 
ple, the  axioms  of  mathematics,  the  fundamentals  of 
logic,  and  the  data  of  self-consciousness  in  general.  I 
say  it  is  by  the  intuitive  power  of  the  mind  that  we 
reach  and  hold  these  fundamental  truths,  for  they  are 
not  a  somewhat  which  is  thrown  into,  or  impressed 
\tpon,  the  mind  by  some  power  inherent  in  that  some- 
what, or  by  some  power  outside  of  and  unknown  to 


In  His  Mental  Chabactebistics.  229 

the  mind  ;  bnt  the  mind  is  itself  active  in  this  funda- 
mental knowing  ;  in  the  mind  itsel fmheres  the  power 
to  intuit — to,  in  a  sense,  formulate  certain  basal  prin- 
ciples or  axiomatic  truths,  which  it  holds  unyieldingly 
as  necessarily  true,  and  which  every  other  healthy 
human  mind  holds  in  the  same  manner  and  in  the 
same  sense.  How  it  does  this  it  is  not  our  province 
to  explain,  nor  has  any  man  a  good  reason  for  asking 
an  explanation.  The  fact  is  here,  is  manifest  to  every 
individual ;  and  the  very  inexplicability  of  the  how 
only  serves  the  more  perfectly  to  separate  this  power 
from  the  ordinary  explainable  powers  of  the  mere 
bodily  organism,  and  to  mark  it  with  superior 
dignity. 

There  has  been  an  almost  endless  amount  of  meta- 
physical quibbling,  and  bandying  about  of  big  words 
to  no  good  purpose,  over  this  question  of  the  intui- 
tions. There  has  also  been  much  of  very  great  value 
written  upon  the  same  subject.  Some  of  our  wisest 
men  have  handled  it  with  the  utmost  clearness,  and 
have  uniformly  come  at  last  to  substantially  the  con- 
clusion to  which  the  clear  common  sense  of  even  the 
unlearned  man  of  careful  thought  is  sure  to  come  j 
namely,  that  the  mind,  the  ego  within,  is  consciously 
active  in  formulating  for  itself  even  these  primitive 
data  of  necessary  truth  ;  that,  although  it  does  not 
stop  to  go  through  any  laborious,  protracted  process 
of  reasoning  to  make  out  that  the  whole  of  a  thin^  is 
greater  than   any  of  its  parts,  or  that  a  body  cannot 


230  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

he  and  not  be  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  sense, 
yet  it  does  act  in  the  decision,  it  does  contribute 
something  thereto,  instead  of  being  a  mere  mass  of 
impressionable  matter  or  sensitized  plate,  which  pas- 
sively receives  some  thing  from  somewhither — nobody 
knows  whence. 

Now  mark  the  marvelous  sweep  of  this  intuitive 
power.  It  is  a  power  which  not  only  contributes  that 
primitive  knowledge  of  our  every- day  experiences 
which  is  so  important  to  all  of  us,  no  matter  how 
lowly  our  position  or  how  circumscribed  our  field  of 
view,  and  which  in  a  very  important  sense  makes  the 
most  obscure  man  a  veritable  sovereign;  but  it  forms 
the  sure  foundation  of  the  most  elaborate  sreneraliza- 
tions  of  the  foremost  minds  in  all  ages,  and  is  that 
without  which  all  intellectual  advancement  would  be 
impossible.  It  enables  man  to  make  calculations  the 
bare  results  of  which  would  seem  beyond  all  compre- 
hension, to  say  nothing  about  the  intricate  mazes 
through  which  the  various  processes  of  the  solution 
had  to  be  carried.  But  through  all  these  apparently 
dizzying  measurements  and  formulae,  geometrical 
and  other  figures,  this  power  guides,  placing  knowl- 
edge to  knowledge,  relation  to  relation,  inference  to 
inference,  with  unerring  precision,  and,  in  the  well- 
trained  mind,  without  conscious  effort.  In  such  exer- 
cise this  power  grows,  and  upon  it  seems  to  feed  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  entire  being  is  exhilarated. 
Who  that  has  ever  passed  successively  from  the  ele- 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  231 

mentary  processes  of  geometry  on  up  through  the 
integral  and  differential  calculus  does  not  remember 
with  what  a  sort  of  indefinable  uplift  the  solution  of 
the  first  difficult  problem  seemed  to  "  come  to  him" 
while  he  was  all  the  while  conscious  that  "  he  did  it?" 
Who  does  not  remember  how  his  whole  nature  seemed 
to  glow  and  burn,  as  with  an  inner  fire  truly  super- 
natural, when  the  vaster  generalizations  of  some  of 
the  problems  of  the  higher  mathematics  took  on  form 
and  substance,  and  he  shouted  "Eureka,"  with  full, 
soul-cheering  certainty ! 

Let  not  some  critical  reader  here  congratulate  him- 
self that  he  has  discovered  inconsistency  in  the  author, 
in  that  he  is  attributing  to  intuition  the  triumphs  which 
belong  to  inductive  reasoning.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the 
intuitive  power  plays  a  very  important  part  in  all  these 
processes.  The  mind  arrives  at  all  its  conclusions  by 
a  process  of  reasoning,  however  rapid  that  process 
may  be.  What  we  call  intuition,  or  intuitive  reason- 
ing, as  distinguished  from  reasoning  in  the  common 
acceptation  of  the  term,  seems  absolutely  instantane- 
ous in  its  action  ;  but  this  does  by  no  means  invalidate 
its  claims  to  genuineness.  Although  wre  think  of 
it  as  instantaneous,  it  consumes  time  in  its  processes, 
though  such  minute  portions  thereof  as  to  be  undis- 
coverable  by  any  known  means  of  measurement.  In 
other  words,  its  action  is  "as  quick  as  thought," 
and  we  have  nothing  quicker  with  which  to  com- 
pare it. 


232  Man  a  IIevelation  of  God. 

In  the  calculations  instanced  above,  or  even  in  sim- 
ple addition,  there  are  numerous  illustrations  of  this 
rapidity  of  thought.  Place  before  the  average  book- 
keeper a  column  of  figures  to  be  added.  Let  it  ex- 
tend the  entire  length  of  a  sheet  of  foolscap,  and 
almost  before  you  could  read  the  figures,  yes,  quicker 
than  the  ordinary  reader  would  call  out  the  figures 
one  by  one,  he  will  tell  you  the  sum  total  of  the  entire 
column.  This  is  so  commonly  done  that  we  do  not 
often  stop  to  consider  what  must  take  place  in  that 
book-keeper's  mind  in  order  to  accomplish  the  result. 
In  the  first  place,  perceptive  or  presentative  intuition 
must  clearly  recognize  the  first  figure,  and  give  it  its 
true  value  ;  then,  holding  this  firmly  within  its  grasp, 
must  clearly  recognize  the  second  figure,  and  give  it 
its  true  value ;  and  then,  with  both  images  and  values 
securely  'held,  rational  processes  must  make  out 
and  declare  the  sum  of  the  two,  which  sum  must 
now  take  the  place  in  perception  which  was  previously 
occupied  by  the  two  separate  figures,  and  alongside 
of  it  must  be  placed,  by  the  presentative  faculty, 
a  third  figure;  and  so  on  through  the  whole  column. 
At  each  successive  step  new  figures  are  seized  upon, 
and  old  ones  released,  new  totals  made  up,  and 
old  ones  cast  aside;  and  all  with  such  rapidity  that 
the  most  fluent  speaker  cannot  possibly  articulate 
even  the  results  as  fast  as  all  of  these  multiple 
processes  can  be  gone  through  by  his  marvelous 
mind-faculty. 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  233 

Moreover,  not  merely  one  column,  but  oftentimes 
two  or  even  three  or  more  columns,  will  be  added 
with  almost  startling  rapidity. 

Nor  is  this  all,  but  large  numbers  will  be  multi- 
plied and  divided  with  a  facility  which  is  absolutely 
amazing  to  any  one  who  has  never  studied  this  God- 
given,  Divinity-revealing  faculty,  which  resides  in 
every  mind,  and  only  needs  cultivation  to  enable  it  to 
assert  its  power. 

Who  can  fail  to  see  in  all  this  the  plainest  indica- 
tions of  Spirit?  True,  we  cannot  mathematically 
demonstrate  that  all  these  operations  may  not  be  per- 
formed by  means  of  some  hitherto  unknown  processes 
of  material  nature ;  but  no  reasonable  man  asks  that  a 
negative  shall  be  mathematically  demonstrated.  Nor 
can  we  thus  demonstrate  the  positive  existence  of 
Spirit,  but  we  can  discover  such  sure  indications 
thereof  that  the  mind  rests  satisfied  in  the  conscious- 
ness. 

This  introduces  us  to  that  phase  of  intuition  con- 
cerning which  I  have  as  yet  said  but  little  in  this 
connection,  but  which  was  under  review  while  deal- 
ing with  agnostic  objections ;  namely,  self -conscious- 
ness. The  soul's  recognition  of  itself  as  a  "  self?  and 
of  its  surroundings  as  surroundings,  and  of  its  acts  as 
self-acts — this  is  the  very  foundation  of  our  being. 
This  is  that  beneath  which  and  beyond  which  we 
cannot  go.  This  is  the  inner  sanctuary  of  the  soul — 
that  holy  of  holies  which  no  scalpel  ever  lays  bare,  no 


23±  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

microscope  ever  sees,  no  spectruni  analysis  ever  re- 
solves, no  chemical  reaction  ever  affects — which  all 
science  and  all  philosophy  have  striven  in  vain  to  ex- 
plain, but  which  is  naked  and  open  to  itself,  and  the 
denial  of  whose  existence  has  been  shown  to  argue 
either  insanity  or  insincerity. 

Here  every  normal  mind  rests  secure  in  its  own 
conscious  being,  looks  calmly  out  upon  its  environ- 
ment, and  receives  impressions  from  without,  through 
the  senses;  looks  reverently  up  into  the  face  of  the 
Author  and  reflects  his  image,  declaring  within  itself, 
and  for  itself,  that  truth  is  the  same  every-where  and 
at  all  times;  that  when  it  cognizes  a  truth  it  knows 
it  to  be  such,  and  that  every  other  mind,  even  the 
mind  of  the  Eternal,  must  of  necessity — the  neces- 
sity of  His  all-perfect  attributes — cognize  it  as  the 
same. 

Thus  does  each  individual  man,  in  this  very  funda- 
mental element  of  his  mind,  become  a  revelation  of 
God  unto  himself,  whether  he  will  confess  it  or  not. 
This  may  sound  like  dogmatism,  and  no  doubt  the 
disciples  of  nescience  and  materialism  will  character- 
ize it  as  such,  but  we  claim  to  have  shown  satisfactory 
indications  of  the  validity  of  our  position,  and  appeal 
to  the  "  consciousness  "  of  every  reader,  the  objector 
included,  in  support  thereof. 

I  take  pleasure  in  here  adding  the  following  from 
The  Logic  of  Introspection,  a  most  suggestive  and 
very  able  work  by  the  .Rev.  J.  B.  Wentworth,  D.D. : 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  235 

"Looking  within,  the  arcana  of  my  .own  mind,  I 
think  I  see  there  evidences  of  the  Divine  inworking. 
I  seem  to  myself  to  find  there  certain  modes  of  Su- 
pernal Energy  operating  within  me. — Facts,  that  are 
Supernatural,  the  result  of  a  Divine  Force  acting  upon 
my  mind;  a  sense  of  God  moving  in  and  upon  my 
mental  being,  and  producing  therein  unique  conscious 
phenomena ;  which,  my  reason  beholding,  it  at  once 
attributes  to  a  Supernatural  Source,  and,  by  them, 
gains  at  once,  not  merely  or  especially,  an  idea  of  God, 
but  a  vision  of  God.  .  .  .  For,  it  seems  plain  to  my 
reflective  thinking,  that  God  as  positively  enters  the 
domain  of  human  Consciousness,  through  the  Religious 
or  Spiritual  faculties  of  man's  nature,  as  that  Matter 
or  Body  does,  by  means  of  the  powers  of  Sense-per- 
ception. And,  we  may  have  as  emphatic  a  subjective 
sense  of  the  Divine  Nature,  as  we  have  of  Self,  if  we 
will  but  listen  attent  to  the  voices  that  speak  to  the 
ear  of  Spiritual  Self-consciousness." 

Memory. 
The  next  characteristic  of  the  human  mind  to 
which  I  desire  to  invite  attention  is  memory.  This 
is  certainly  one  of  the  most  useful,  as  well  as  one  of 
the  most  interesting  and  wonderful  faculties  of  the 
mind.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  into  any  discus- 
sion of  the  metaphysics  or  philosophy  of  memory, 
which  might  well  occupy  an  entire  chapter,  or  even 
an   entire    volume,    but    simply    to    direct   attention 


236  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

thereto,  as  a  faculty  of  the  mind  which  speaks  in 
unmistakable  language  of  an  omnipotent  Creator. 
Those  who  desire  to  study  it  critically  can  find 
an  abundance  of  literature  on  the  subject,  and  wide 
differences  of  opinion  as  regards  abstract  definitions 
— from  Sir  William  Hamilton,  who  would  consider  it 
a  capacity*  rather  than  a  faculty,  to  Hopkins,  McCosli, 
and  Harris,  who  would  consider  it  an  actual  power  of 
the  mind — but  substantial  agreement  as  regards  its 
results. 

The  vast  importance  of  memory  must  appear  evi- 
dent to  any  one  who  will  consider  it  for  a  single  mo- 
ment. What  were  all  the  other  faculties  of  the  soul 
without  memory  ?  The  intuitive  power  might  per- 
form its  wondrous  work,  and  formulate  all  those 
great  fundamental  principles  of  thought  and  knowl- 
edge of  which  we  have  been  studying,  and  if  there 
were  no  registration  of  them,  if  they  could  be  given 
no  permanency,  there  could  be  no  extended  use 
thereof  for  purposes  of  reflective  thought  or  consecu- 
tive reasoning. 

Moreover,  we  could  never  gain  any  valuable  ex- 
perience from  all  the  information  received  through 
the  senses.  Sight,  hearing,  touch,  taste  —  all  the 
senses,  might  convey  to  us  their  normal  impressions, 
but  they  would  profit  or  please  us  only  for  the  moment, 
and  would  be  gone  forever.  No  such  word  as  "  expe- 
rience" would  be  needed  in  our  vocabulary. 
*  Metaphysics,  p.  414. 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  237 

Consider  what  this  means,  and  there  dawns  upon  us 
some  conception  of  what  memory  does  for  us  even  in 
its  most  ordinary  exercise ;  some  conception  of  what 
we  should  be  without  this  faculty.     The  past  an  utter 
blank!     Each   moment  gone  beyond  recall,  with  all 
that  it  brought  us,  as  soon  as  the  succeeding  moment 
approaches !     The  thought  is  too  cheerless  to  be  enter- 
tained.    And  yet  the  wisest  physiologist,  or  the  most 
skillful  chemist,  has   never  succeeded  in  finding  out 
what  takes  place  in  the  mind  by  way  of  "  registra- 
tion" or  "storing  up;"  and  the  profoundest  philos- 
opher has  never  satisfactorily  explained  it.     Sufficient 
for  us  that  this  power  exists,  with  all  its  manifold 

advantages. 

Some  writers  have  been  inclined  to  discount  the 
worth  of  memory  as  an  intellectual  faculty,  holding 
that  an  unusually  good  memory  indicates  a  lack  of 
logical  reasoning  power.     There  may  be  some  truth 
in  this,  but  not  necessarily.     It  is  true  that  we  often 
find  a  person  of  uncertain  logical  strength  manifest- 
in-  surprising  readiness  in  retaining  concrete  facts 
and  figures;  but  this  does  by  no  means  signify  that 
the  ready  memory  is  the  occasion  of  the  weak  log- 
ical   faculty,   any   more    than    unusually   good    eye- 
sight  in   a   person   partially   deaf   signifies  that  the 
ready  sight  is  the  occasion  of  the  poor  hearing.     It 
simply  indicates  that  one  faculty  may  be,  by  nature, 
superior  to  another  in  certain  minds;  or,  what  seems 
to  me  more  probable,  that  one  faculty  has  been  culti- 


238  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

vated  more  carefully  than  another,  and  the  person  has 
come  to  depend  upon  it,  rather  than  the  other,  thus 
continuing  to  increase  the  disparity. 

It  has  been  held  by  some  that  every  incident,  im- 
pression, or  fact,  however  trivial,  of  which  the  mind 
takes  cognizance  is  retained,  and  at  some  future  time 
will  return  to  consciousness.  That  such  is  the  case 
no  one  can  be  certain,  but  there  are  many  well- 
known  facts  which  seem  to  warrant  this  conclusion. 
These  facts  assure  us  that  all  our  experiences 
may  come  back  to  us  in  every  minutest  detail,  and 
that  many  of  them  certainly  will.  How  this  truth 
adds  weight  to  the  otherwise  insignificant  circum- 
stances of  life  !  Memory  is  an  ever-present  photogra- 
pher, with  cameras  pointing  in  every  direction  through 
all  the  senses,  and  through  consciousness  as  a  whole; 
constantly  shifting  her  scenes,  and,  with  more  than 
lightning  speed,  completing  and  storing  away  her 
negatives,  to  be  brought  out  as  occasion  shall  offer 
during  advancing  life ;  and,  as  we  believe,  to  be 
brought  out  in  their  completeness  after  the  close  of 
life.  How  careful,  then,  should  we  be  of  our  sur- 
roundings, and  even  of  our  thoughts !  How  we 
should  treasure  every  ennobling  truth,  and  every  ele- 
vating opportunity  !  Emphatically  true  does  it  be- 
come, that  every  person  builds  his  own  dwelling,  and 
adorns  it  for  himself,  and  in  it  he  must  abide. 

Surely,  none  but  Divine  Wisdom  could  have  de- 
vised such  a  plan  for  the  restraint  of  evil  passions, 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  239 

and  the  subduing  of  vain  imaginations.  The  phys- 
ical law  of  entail  does  hold  in  the  mental  world,  in 
this  particular  at  least. 

Furthermore,  we  find  in  this  faculty  a  cheering 
revelation  of  God  in  his  benevolent  attributes,  when 
we  consider  how  the  joy  and  gladness  of  life  are 
increased  hereby.  Not  only  is  memory  a  powerful 
deterrent  from  wrong  living  and  impure  thinking, 
but  an  equally  powerful  incentive  to  right  living  and 
chaste  thinking. 

Moreover,  we  find  that  memory,  under  the  training 
of  good  desires  and  a  righteous  will,  retains  most  viv- 
idly and  permanently  the  pleasant,  satisfying  experi- 
ences of  life.  Then,  also,  in  childhood  and  youth, 
this  faculty  is  specially  active,  and  treasures  up  the 
bright  and  joyous  incidents  of  glad  young  life  with 
eager  love,  and  makes  them  a  never-failing  source  of 
comfort  in  after  years. 

What  joy  to  the  aged  pilgrim  to  sit  amid  the 
lengthening  shadows  of  earthly  life,  and  allow  thought 
to  go  back  over  the  past !  As  memory,  with  her  blessed 
resurrection  power,  does  her  characteristic  work,  his 
enfeebled  frame  becomes  lithe  and  strong  again,  his 
broken  voice  resonant  and  full,  his  dimming  vision 
clear,  and,  with  every  sense  awake,  and  heart  throbbing 
with  young  life,  he  is  a  boy  again,  mingling  with 
unbounded  gladness  in  the  scenes  of  childhood ;  and, 
what  is  specially  remarkable,  as  above  suggested,  he 
mingles  in  those  scenes  without  the  annoyances  and 


2i0  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

childhood  trials  which  vexed  his  young  spirit  fifty 
years  before.  Only  the  brightest  visions  come  back 
with  full  force. 

What  satisfaction  to  the  mature  scholar,  who  now 
enjoys  the  repose  of  conscious  intellectual  power,  a 
position  of  established  recognition,  and  a  sure  compe- 
tency, to  go  back  in  thought  over  the  days  of  his 
early  intellectual  struggles,  in  the  midst,  perhaps,  of 
financial  embarrassments !  The  vision  rises  before 
him  in  such  soul-satisfying  grandeur  that  he  almost 
shouts  aloud  again,  as  he  swings  his  hat  with  the 
rest  in  some  glad  hurrah  over  a  class  triumph,  or 
again  fervently  thanks  God,  at  the  close  of  some 
final  examination,  that,  amid  all  the  embarrassments, 
he  has  been  kept,  and  helped,  and  permitted  to  pass 
up.  Above  all  the  satisfaction  of  present  honors, 
from  his  constituents,  he  counts  those  old  college-day 
visions ;  and  if  ever  his  cheeks  are  wet  with  tears  of 
joy  over  victories  won  they  are  caused  to  flow  by  old- 
time  memories. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  wealthy  business  man. 
More  to  him  than  his  great  factories  or  stores,  more 
to  him  than  even  his  palatial  residence,  with  all  its 
elegant  appointments,  are  the  pictures  which  mem- 
ory paints  of  the  first  small  business  beginnings, 
and  the  first  little  cottage,  with  all  the  long  series 
of  struggles  out  of  which  the  great  fortune  has 
come. 

Now,  when  we  take  into  account  the  absolutely 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  2±1 

uuexplainable  nature  of  tins  faculty,  which  somehow 
stores  up  the  experiences  of  a  life-time,  and  yet  fur- 
nishes no  trace  of  that  "how"  or  the  "where;" 
when  we  consider  its  immense  practical  importance, 
so  great  that  without  it  we  could  not  carry  on  any  of 
the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  successfully,  and  then  add 
to  these  its  bearing  on  the  formation  of  character, 
and  its  service  as  the  enhancer  and  perpetuator  of  our 
joys,  memory  stands  out  before  us  as  a  truly  divine 
gift,  even  if  not  "  God's  divinest  gift,"  and  be- 
comes    an     unmistakable     revelation    of     God     in 

man. 

The  quaint  "  proverbial  philosopher "  has  said, 
"Memory,  the  daughter  of  Attention,  is  the  meet- 
ing mother  of  Wisdom."      . 

Imagination. 

As  the  complement  of  memory,  I  now  undertake  a 
brief  discussion  of  imagination.  This  faculty  of  the 
mind  has  been  variously  estimated  by  different 
writers  of  recognized  ability,  some  considering  it  to 
be  quite  subordinate,  and  of  decidedly  little  worth; 
others  placing  it  among  the  higher  and  diviner  gifts 
of  the  mind. 

As  to  this  comparative  estimate  I  have  no  desire  to 
dogmatize ;  but,  considered  in  its  essential  character, 
this  faculty  certainly  occupies  a  very  important  posi- 
tion, and  performs  a  most  important  part  in  many  of 
the  higher  employments  of  life  ;  while,  considered 
11 


212  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

with  reference  to  the  subject  we  have  in  hand,  it 
takes  very  high  rank. 

In  a  certain  sense  it  may  be  considered  the  creative 
faculty  of  the  soul.  "Not  in  the  sense  that  the  imag- 
ination actually  brings  any  thing  into  being  from 
nothing,  for  only  God  himself  can  do  this ;  but  in 
that  it  creates,  or  puts  into  a  form  of  mental  con- 
creteness,  that  which  previously  existed  only  in  the 
faintest  outlines,  or  the  most  shadowy  suggestions — 
so  faint  and  shadowy,  indeed,  as  to  have  been  invisi- 
ble to  a  mind  possessed  of  little  imaginative  power. 

Herein  lies  the  peculiar  significance  of  this  faculty 
as  a  revealer  of  God  in  man,  namely,  in  that  it 
approaches,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  so  near  to 
the  accomplishment  of  what  the  universal  human 
consciousness  declares  to  be  possible  only  to  divine 
power. 

We  walk  into  a  celebrated  picture  gallery,  and 
stand  before  a  good  copy  of  some  ideal  masterpiece, 
for  example,  "The  Transfiguration."  We  study  its 
general  outline,  and  are  attracted  by  its  comprehen- 
sive boldness.  Led  on  to  a  closer  scrutiny,  we  care- 
fully scan  each  form  and  figure.  Our  interest  in- 
creases. We  gaze  upon  the  delineation  of  features? 
the  lights  and  shadows,  the  reflected  glory  and  the 
almost  speaking  gladness,  and  are  enraptured  while 
we  gaze ;  and  yet  all  this  is  merely  an  ideal  picture,  a 
creation  of  the  imagination  out  of  certain  mental  con- 
cepts obtained  from  reading. 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  243 

We  walk  through  some  magnificent  cathedral,  and 
take  note  of  its  symmetrical  proportions,  its  elaborate 
adornings,  and  its  exquisite  beauty  of  design  as  a 
whole,  and  when  we  stop  to  consider  that  all  this, 
which,  in  its  present  concrete  form,  fills  us  with  aston- 
ishment, must  necessarily  have  existed  in  its  entirety 
as  an  ideal  form  in  the  mind  of  the  architect,  who 
had  never  seen  one  like  it,  we  gain  a  new  conception 
of  the  creative  power  of  the  imagination,  and  see,  a 
little  more  clearly,  the  image  of  God  reflected  in  the 
"  man  of  the  draughting  instruments." 

We  open  some  great  poem,  like  the  "  Iliad "  or 
"  The  Inferno,"  and  as  we  read  on,  and  one  vision 
after  another  rises  before  our  minds,  in  all  its  real- 
istic beauty  or  ugliness  —  overflowing  joy,  or  heart- 
breaking grief— we  find  ourselves  saying,  "This  is 
history ;  this  is  true  to  the  life  ;  the  writer  must  have 
been  there;"  but  at  the  same  time  we  know  better. 
We  know  that  all  these  are  only  intellectual  images, 
imaginary  personages  and  experiences,  built  of  the 
stuff  "  dreams  are  made  of."  And  yet  how  superbly, 
how  naturally,  how  grandly— shall  we  not  say,  how 
divinely  ? — built ! 

Once  more.  Here  stands  a  Sumner  or  a  Gladstone, 
a  Simpson  or  an  Edwards,  before  eager  thousands. 
He  sways  them — now  as  the  ripening  grain  is  swayed 
before  the  summer  breeze,  now  as  the  forest  trees 
before  the  mighty  tempest.  They  weep,  they  laugh, 
they  groan,  they  shout— they  yield  to  doubt  and  fear, 


244  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

or  rise  triumphant  in  spirit  over  every  obstacle. 
What  is  the  matter?  What  is  this  subtle  power 
which  moves  men  at  the  will  of  the  orator  ?  Not 
the  imagination  alone.  Certainly  not !  And  yet, 
strip  every  fact  presented  of  every  element  con- 
tributed by  this  faculty  to  its  elucidation,  and  you 
would  look  in  vain  for  the  manifestations  so  evident 
before. 

Nor  yet  alone  in  these  somewhat  exceptional  affairs 
of  life  is  this  faculty  found  performing  its  mission. 
Every- where,  in  all  conversation  and  all  social  inter- 
course, in  every  occupation  and  condition  of  our 
changing  existence,  imagination  has  a  place  and  a 
function.  Not  always  a  good  place  or  a  beneficent 
function,  for  any  faculty  may  be  depraved ;  and  the 
purer,  the  more  divine  the  normal,  the  more  de- 
praved the  abnormal.  But  if,  in  its  divinely  in- 
tended exercise,  it  touches  with  the  roseate  tinge  of 
beauty  many  otherwise  dreary  places  in  life,  lays  the 
hand  of  blessing  upon  many  an  otherwise  unblessed 
head,  pours  the  oil  of  joy  into  many  a  wounded 
heart,  and  heals,  as  with  the  magician's  wand,  a  host 
of  otherwise  incurable  ills,  its  perversions  cannot 
invalidate  its  claims.  Truly,  that  must  be  a  dull  and 
passionless  soul  which  fails  to  recognize  in  this 
gentle,  though  powerful,  this  beautiful,  though  often 
hideous  minister,  a  something  above  the  earth,  rather 
than  of  the  earth,  a  very  element  of  the  divine,  a 
heavenly   messenger   to    man,   dwelling    within   his 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  245 

own    breast,    and    inviting    to    almost    endless    im- 
provement and  cultivation. 

Reason. 

There  are  several  other  characteristics  of  the  human 
mind  which  furnish  a  clear  revelation  of  the  Divinity 
within   us,  of  which   it  would  be  pleasing  to  write, 
but  these  rapidly  multiplying  pages  admonish    me 
that  the  space  which  remains   should  be  devoted  to 
reflective  knowledge  or    reason.     This  is  the  crown- 
ing   distinction    of    the    human    intellect ;  this    the 
very   key-stone   of   that  wonderful   arch  up  toward 
which  all  the  other  faculties  are  ever  building,  and 
by  which  they  all  find  their  strength  and  complete- 
ness conserved.     They  are  fundamental,  it  is  true, 
and  in  that  sense  are  of  more  vital  consequence  than 
this,  but  this  occupies  the  place  of  proudest  distinc- 
tion  and  sublimest   effort.      The    foundation   stones 
would  doubtless  remain  in  position  without  the  key- 
stone, but  not  so  the  key-stone  itself.     They  would 
but  very  imperfectly  perform  the  work  intended,  if 
left  without  it,  but  it,  without  them,  would  not  be  a 
key-stone  at  all.     In  and  of  itself  reason  can  furnish 
nothing.     It  must  ever  be  preceded  by  the  intuitions 
and   other   fundamentals.      Spontaneous   knowledge 
always  supplies  the  raw  material  on  which  reflective 
knowledge,  or  reason,  may  do  its  work,  and   out  of 
which  it  may  produce  such  new  and  beautiful  forms 
as  to  constitute  them  genuine  creations. 


216  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

The  timber  in  the  forest  and  the  ore  in  the  mine 
are  fundamentally  essential,  and  we  magnify  their 
importance ;  but  the  majestic  steamship,  with  her 
towering  masts,  and  throbbing  engines,  and  ribs  of 
steel,  is  an  essentially  new  creature,  and  as  she 
speeds  before  the  favoring  breezes,  or  plows  tri- 
umphantly through  the  angry  billows  full  against  the 
wildest  tempests,  we  magnify  her  importance,  and 
greet  her  as  queen. 

There  are  probably  comparatively  few  persons  who 
ever  seriously  consider  what  a  remarkable  complex  of 
activities  the  process  of  reasoning  actually  is.  Sug- 
gest to  men  in  general  the  mastery  of  a  system  of 
logic,  and  nineteen  out  of  every  twenty  will  decline 
the  undertaking.  If  not  on  the  score  of  supposed 
inability,  they  will  put  you  off  with  the  plea  of  in- 
sufficient leisure  for  such  extended  study.  And  yet, 
every  normal  mind  constantly  thinks  in  accordance  with 
norms  or  rules.  In  other  wTords,  every  sane  mind  is  a 
logical  mind.  All  conversation  is  carried  on  on  the 
basis  of  the  logical  syllogism  ;  that  is,  all  conversation 
which  is  worthy  the  name.  I  do  not  say  that  all 
genuine  conversation  conforms  strictly  to  severe  log- 
ical methods.  This  would  be  to  affirm  a  perfection 
in  the  untrained  multitudes  which  is  seldom,  if  ever, 
found  iu  the  masters.  But  all  genuine  conversation 
or  discussion  is  proceeded  with  on  the  basis  of  the 
syllogism.  Very  rarely  do  we  state  the  complete 
syllogistic  form    in   major   and   minor  premise   and 


In  II13  Mental  Characteristics.         2A7 

conclusion.  Some  one  of  these  is  almost  uniformly 
left  to  silent  inference ;  frequently  even  two  of 
them.  In  this  process  of  silent  inference  is  seen 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  elements  of  the  reasoning 
power. 

A  dozen  times  in  the  course  of  a  few  sentences,  a 
thousand  times  in  an  address  of  a  half  hour's  duration, 
will  this  faculty  do  its  work,  and  do  it  so  deftly  as 
not  to  betray  its  own  existence,  even  to  its  possessor. 
Need  we  wonder  that  it  sometimes  falls  into  fal- 
lacies ?  The  marvel  is  that  there  are  not  more  frequent 
lapses. 

To  illustrate  my  meaning.  You  call  on  your 
neighbor  and  find  her  child  ill.  You  learn  that 
it  is  malignant  diphtheria.  You  return  home  and 
are  now  saying,  "  Mary  Smith  is  going  to  die,"  or 
wrords  to  that  effect.  This  statement  is  an  extreme- 
ly bald  one — has  no  look  of  logic  about  it.  Your 
interested  listeners  do  not  have  the  faintest  tought 
of  even  a  suggested  syllogism,  nor  are  you  conscious 
of  logical  inference  going  on,  or  having  gone  on 
in  your  mind.  Yet  there  has  been  such  a  process 
going  on,  and  you  are  talking  syllogistically.  How? 
From  past  experience  you  have  come  to  the  fixed 
conclusion  that, 

1.  All  malignant  diphtheria  is  fatal.  During 
your  stay  at  your  friend's  house  you  became  aware 
that, 

2.  Mary   Smith    has   malignant  diphtheria ;    and, 


248  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

without  any  thought  of  inference  or  logical  reasoning, 
or  formulating  a  syllogism,  you  have  come  home, 
and  are  just  now  stating  the  logical  conclusion  of  the 
above  plain  major  and  minor  premises,  namely, 

3.  "  Mary  Smith  is  going  to  die." 

A  mother  sees  her  child  about  to  clutch  a  hot  cof- 
fee-pot, and  instantly  catches  its  hand  away.  Unless 
you  have  considered  this  matter  before,  you  smile 
when  I  say  that  her  mind,  in  that  instant,  passed 
through  all  the  steps  of  a  syllogism,  and  acted  ac- 
cording to  the  most  elaborate  logic.  Yet  this  is  no 
more  than  the  simple  truth.  With  lightning-like 
rapidity — nay,  more,  "  as  quick  as  thought  " — that 
mother's  mind  formulates  the  following : 

1.  Baby's  hand  is  just  about  to  touch  that  hot 
coffee-pot.  2.  Every  hand  that  touches  a  hot  cof- 
fee-pot gets  burned.  3.  Therefore,  Baby's  hand  is 
about  to  be  burned. 

But  O,  thou  sluggish  syllogism!  Long  before  all  thy 
"vain  repetitions"  of  language  have  been,  or  could 
have  been,  spoken,  baby's  hand  is  safe — or  perchance, 
into  some  other  mischief. 

Of  the  various  methods  of  reasoning,  demonstra- 
tive and  probable,  analytic  and  synthetic,  or  inductive 
and  deductive,  etc.,  we  have  not  space  to  treat,  ex- 
cept to  state  a  few  general  principles. 

Sir  William  Hamilton,  in  his  Philosophical  Dis- 
cussions, makes  the  following  very  terse  and  com- 
prehensive division  of  inductive  and  deductive  reason- 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  249 

ino\  and  the  reader  cannot  do  better  than  to  fasten  it 
firmly  in  mind : 

"  Induction  holds  that  what  belongs,  or  does  not 
belong,  to  all  the  constituent  parts,  belongs  or  does 
not  belong  to  the  constituted  whole.  Deduction, 
holds  that  what  belongs,  or  does  not  belong,  to  the 
containing  whole,  belongs,  or  does  not  belong,  to 
each  and  all  of  the  contained  parts." 

These,  however,  are  but  certain  methods  of  hand- 
ling truth  ;  and,  although  worthy  of  all  the  attention 
which  has  been  bestowed  upon  them,  and  perhaps 
deserving  of  much  of  the  criticism,  our  chief  interest 
must  ever  center  in  the  examination  of  the  funda- 
mental criteria  of  reason.  Even  these  we  cannot 
here  discuss,  but  would  call  attention  to  the  two 
kinds  or  two  great  subdivisions  of  truths,  namely, 
necessary  and  contingent.  Necessary  truths  are 
truths  the  opposite  of  which  is  unthinkable.  Con- 
tingent truths  are  truths  the  opposite  of  which 
might  be.  The  latter  may  be  as  certain  as  the  for- 
mer, but  they  are  not  of  necessity  thus. 

When,  in  our  reasoning,  we  make  use  of  only  nec- 
essary truths,  as,  for  example,  the  axioms  of  math- 
ematics, we  are  reasoning  demonstratively,  and  our 
conclusions  are  such  that  a  sane  mind  must  accept 
them,  unless  a  flaw  is  found  in  the  process.  When 
we  make  use  of  contingent  truths,  it  becomes  only 
probable  reasoning,  and  yet  this  may  be  as  valid  as 
the  former.     It  cannot  command  assent,  as  oan  de- 


250  Man  a   Revelation  of  God. 

monstrative  reasoning,  but  it  can  so  convince  as  to  win 
assent,  which  shall  be  equally  perfect,  and  prove 
much  more  influential  upon  the  life. 

When  we  compare  the  two  as  to  their  importance, 
taking  into  consideration  the  facts  and  circumstances 
with  which  human  life  has  to  deal,  probable  reason- 
ing is  placed  greatly  in  the  ascendency.  This  takes 
into  consideration  all  of  evidence,  as  found  in  human 
testimony,  in  human  experience,  and  in  that  remark- 
able weapon  of  the  apologist — analogy. 

The  triumphs  of  demonstrative  reasoning,  as  seen 
in  mathematics,  wherein  alone  is  found  the  strictly 
demonstrative  process,  are,  after  all,  so  largely  con- 
tributed to  by  the  intuitive  faculty  that  this  method 
loses  much  of  its  supposed  glory.  Moreover,  the 
field  is  circumscribed  in  all  directions,  and  admits  of 
no  extension. 

Probable  reasoning,  on  the  contrary,  knows  no 
bounds  but  the  limits  of  thought,  seizes  boldly  upon 
all  problems,  of  all  science,  and  all  history,  grapples 
with  every  question  of  life  and  destiny,  and  calmly 
rests  the  issue  in  the  balances  of  judgment. 

But,  of  course,  all  this  must  be  in  accordance  with 
certain  well-established  rules,  or  it  amounts  to  nothing 
in  the  end.  The  mind  must  have  a  solid  hold  on 
what  is  absolutely  known  before  reason  can  reach  out 
into  the  unknown. 

Those  who  have  been  unaccustomed  to  the  reading 
of  mental  science  will  now  appreciate  more  fully  the 


In  His  Mkntal  Characteristics.  251 

reason  for  so  much  space  having  been  given  to  the 
establishment  the  claims  of  the  fundamental  condi- 
tions of  all  knowing. 

It  having  been  satisfactorily  shown  that  "  thought 
implies  the  existence  of  a  thinking  being,  to  whom 
the  thought  belongs ;  "  that  "  quality  implies  a  sub- 
stantive existence  in  which  it  inheres;"  that  "  what- 
ever is  perceived  by  the  several  senses  exists,  and 
substantially  as  perceived ; "  that  "  whatever  is  re- 
called by  the  memory  did  exist  as  remembered  ; " 
and  that  "  consciousness,  in  general,  makes  a  true  and 
reliable  report  of  our  experience;"  we  are  on  solid 
ground  as  to  primary  facts.  Certain  fundamental 
judgments  having  also  been  satisfactorily  settled, 
namely,  that  ''every  effect  must  have  a  cause;" 
that  "all  objects  exist  in  space  and  time ;"  and  that 
"  space  admits  of  various  perfect  and  definite  relations, 
both  among  objects  and  the  different  parts  and  posi- 
tions of  the  same,  as  time  does  among  events  and  the 
different  periods  of  the  same  existence  ; "  we  are  also  on 
a  firm  foundation  as  to  primary  truths.  The  accept- 
ance of  these  basal  conditions  is  necessary  to  all  science, 
to  physical  no  less  than  to  mental,  since,  unless  these 
can  be  depended  upon  for  this  and  all  other  planets, 
the  astronomer  and  the  theologian,  the  physicist  and 
the  metaphysician,  may  as  well  mingle  their  instru- 
ments and  books  in  a  common  heap,  and  apply  the 
torch.  But  they  can  be  depended  upon.  The  evi- 
dence is  complete,  and  there  rises  before  us  the  sub- 


252  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

stantial  structure  of  the  genuine  monistic  philosophy. 
Resting  upon  these  fundamentals  the  entire  universe 
of  thought  becomes  one. 

Beholding  the  human  reason  binding  together  all 
other  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  satisfied  that  reason 
is  the  same  every-where,  we  behold  also  the  Infinite 
Reason  binding  together  all  the  faculties  (the  laws, 
relations,  and  activities)  of  the  universe.  Here  we 
discover  the  true  doctrine  of  the  "  reign  of  law,"  of 
the  unity  of  the  universe.  And  how  much  more 
complete,  and  satisfactory  to  consciousness,  is  this 
conception  than  the  materialistic !  Row  it  exalts  law  ! 
As  we  gain  this  face-to-face  view  of  God,  through  the 
help  of  the  image  within  our  own  souls,  we  behold, 
not  an  orphaned  universe  ruled  by  dead  Fate,  but  a 
Divinely  created  universe  controlled  by  harmonious, 
loving  law.  The  revelation  stands  out  bold  and  clear. 
We  accept  it  gratefully  and  rejoice  therein. 

With  this  conception  of  the  divineness  of  reason, 
we  no  longer  wonder  at  its  marvelous  achievements. 
To  adequately  notice  these  would  involve  the  pres- 
entation of  much  that  will  necessarily  come  under 
review  in  ChajDter  VI ;  therefore  I  will  avoid  repe- 
tition by  entirely  omitting  all  such  notice  here. 

Consideration  of  the  will  is  deferred  to  the  next 
chapter,  as  belonging  more  naturally  to  the  moral 
nature. 

What  I  have  written  is  but  a  few  meager  hints,  a 
few  brief  suggestions,  of  the  almost  in  finite  variety  of 


In  His  Mental  Characteristics.  253 

details  lying  all  about  us  as  we  enter  the  domain  of 
the  human  mind.  But  this  fact  only  lends  additional 
force  to  the  argument ;  for,  if  in  this  imperfect  pres- 
entation the  revelation  of  God  in  man's  mental 
characteristics  shines  forth  so  clearly,  it  cannot  fail 
to  appear  absolutely  unclouded  to  every  reader  who 
will  be  at  the  pains  to  follow  out  the  lines  of  thought 
which  have  been  merely  suggested. 


"  Come  one,  come  all !  This  rock  shall  fly 

From  its  firm  base  as  soon  as  II  " — Scott's  FAz- James. 

"  My  nerveless  will  is  like  a  traitorous  second,  and  deserts  my 
purpose  in  the  very  gap  of  need." — Alexander  Smith. 

"Conscience  is  a  revelation  of  the  Supreme  God  in  man.  And  it 
brings  man  not  only  into  converse  with  goodness,  but  relates  him  to 
it  as  the  power  which  binds  him  in  his  daily  life  and  would  guide 
him  to  daily  happiness." — Tulloch. 

"  The  satisfaction  in  consciousness  of  all  intelligent  and  sentient 
beings  is  the  governing  motive  in  all  virtuous  acts." — Raymond. 

"Remorse  is  the  pain  of  sin." — Theodore  Parker. 

"  Here,  here  it  lies :  a  lump  of  lead  by  day, 

And  in  my  short,  distracted  slumbers 

The  hag  that  haunts  my  dreams." — Dryden. 

"  Conscience,  the  torturer  of  the  soul,  unseen, 
Does  fiercely  brandish  a  sharp  scourge  within. 
Even  you  yourself  to  your  own  breast  shall  tell 
Your  crimes,  and  your  own  conscience  be  your  hell." 

— Future  State. 

"  These,  having  not  the  law,  are  a  law  unto  themselves." — Paid. 

"I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward  parts  and  write  it  in  their 
hearts." — Jehovah. 

"  A  guilty  conscience  is  like  a  whirlpool  drawing  in  all  to  itself 
which  would  otherwise  pass  by." —  Victor  Hugo. 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature. 


CHAPTER   V. 
IN  HIS  WILL  AND  MORAL  NATURE. 

We  have  been  considering  in  the  last  chapter  man's 
mental  characteristics.  Among  those  characteristics 
the  will  occupies  the  most  distinguished  place.  Over 
all  the  other  faculties  of  the  mind  this  faculty  reigns 
supreme.  As  a  sovereign  he  bears  rule ;  and  yet,  as 
a  sovereign  among  constituents. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  will,  or  indeed  any 
other  faculty,  can  be  separated  out  as  a  distinct  entity 
from  the  rest  of  the  mind.  The  mind  is  one.  It 
cannot  be  divided  and  subdivided  into  separate  and 
independent  powers.  Much  less,  as  some  would  teach, 
can  these  faculties  be  located  in  distinct  portions  of 
the  brain.  This  sort  of  weighing  and  measuring,  map- 
making  and  brain-surveying,  is  contrary  to  both  good 
sense  and  sound  psychology.  But  I  do  mean  to  say 
that  in  this  one  and  indivisible  whole,  which  wre  call 
mind,  there  are  various  faculties,  each  of  which  has 
something  in  itself  which  is  sui  generis,  and  therefore 
can  be  studied  by  itself,  at  least  in  its  actions ;  and 
in  its  nature,  as  associated  with  the  other  constituent 
parts  of  the  mind. 

We  have  left  the  consideration  of  the  will  for  the 
same  chapter  with  the  moral  nature  because  of  its 


256  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

intimate  connection  therewith,  which  intimate  and 
even  fundamental  connection  will,  I  think,  clearly  ap- 
pear before  we  have  completed  our  argument. 

I  care  not  to  enter  upon  a  metaphysical  discussion 
of  the  will,  however  interesting  and  profitable  such 
discussion  might  prove,  but  simply  wish  to  call  atten- 
tion to  a  few  fundamental  principles,  and  some  of  the 
more  manifest  revelations  of  God,  in  the  exercise  of 
this  faculty.  Many  profound  thinkers  have  written 
learnedly  upon  the  will,  and  I  can  hardly  add  any 
thing. 

Will  has  been  variously  defined,  from  the  brief, 
bald,  unsatisfactory  definition  of  Edwards,  namely, 
"  The  will  is  the  power  to  choose,"  to  the  somewhat 
extended  but  almost  equally  unsatisfactory  definition 
of  Haven,  namely,  "  I  understand,  by  the  will,  that 
power  which  the  mind  has  of  determining  or  decid- 
ing what  it  will  do,  and  of  putting  forth  volitions 
accordingly.  The  will  is  the  power  of  doing  this  ; 
willing  is  the  exercise  of  the  power ;  volition  is 
the  deed,  the  thing  done.  The  will  is  but  another 
name  for  the  executive  power  of  the  mind.  What- 
ever we  do  intelligently  and  intentionally,  whether 
it  implies  an  exercise  of  the  intellect,  or  of  the 
feelings,  or  of  both,  that  is  an  act  of  the  will.  All 
our  voluntary,  in  distinction  from  our  involuntary, 
movements  of  the  body,  and  movements  of  mind,  are 
the  immediate  results  of  the  activity  of  the  will."* 

*  Mental  Philosophy,  p.  520. 


In  His  Will  and  Mobal  Nature.        257 

All  of  which  is  good  as  an  explanation,  but  scarcely 
to  the  point  as  a  definition,  if  intended  as  such,  for 
the  exact  term  which  he  is  undertaking  to  define  is 
used  in  the  defining. 

Coleridge  says,  "Will  is  that  which  originates 
action  or  state  of  being,"  but  this,  of  course,  compre- 
hends too  much,  unless  we  pare  down  the  term  origi- 
nates to  less  than  half  its  generally  accepted  bulk,  and 
then  we  are  thrown  into  equal  though  opposite  diffi- 
culties. Whedon  says,  "  Will  is  that  power  of  the 
soul  by  which  it  intentionally  originates  an  act  or 
state  of  being."  This  seems  to  us  to  meet  the  re- 
quirements of  a  logical  definition,  although  it  also 
has  had  many  criticisms  heaped  upon  it.  Another 
form  in  which  the  same  author  puts  it  is:  "  Will  is  the 
power  of  the  soul  by  which  it  is  the  conscious  author 
of  an  intentional  act."  Dr.  Upham  defines  will  to 
be  "  The  mental  power  or  susceptibility  by  which  we 
put  forth  volitions." 

The  truth  is  that  nearly  every  writer  on  the  will 
has  some  special  theory  in  ethics  to  support,  and  his 
definitions,  either  consciously  or  unconsciously,  bear 
the  impress  of  that  theory.  Professor  Harris  gives  a 
definition  which,  like  that  of  Dr.  Haven,  is  rather 
an  explanation  than  definition.  Still  it  is  very  excel- 
lent, and  when  I  have  given  this  I  shall  leave  the 
reader  to  define  will  according  to  his  own  pleasure. 

"  The  will  is  the  power  of  a  person,  in  the  light  of 
reason    and  with  susceptibility  to   the   influence   of 


258  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

rational  motives,  to  determine  the  ends  or  objects  to 
which  he  will  direct  his  energy,  and  the  exertion  of 
his  energy  with  reference  to  the  determined  end  or 
object.  The  will  is  a  person's  power  of  self-deter- 
mination. It  is  his  power  of  determining  the  exercise 
of  his  own  causal  efficiency  or  energy.  He  can  de- 
termine the  end  or  object  to  which  he  will  direct  it ; 
he  can  exert  it  or  call  it  into  action  when  he  will ;  he 
can  refrain  from  exerting  it  when  he  will.  He  has 
power  of  self-direction,  self-exertion  and  self-restraint. 
This  power  is  the  will.  Its  function  is,  to  determine 
the  exercise  of  power.  Its  acts  are  determinations. 
We  call  it  the  power  of  self-determination."* 

Now,  whatever  may  be  the  special  metaphysical 
definition  of  the  will  adopted  by  my  readers,  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  all  will  agree  that  the  will,  as  a 
power,  has  in  it  an  element  of  the  Divine  so  manifest 
that  an  appeal  to  consciousness  cannot  fail  to  reveal  it. 
The  human  will,  as  far  as  we  are  able  to  determine, 
acts  in  its  creative  capacity,  within  its  human  limits, 
after  the  same  identical  fashion,  and  with  the  same 
sort  of  freedom,  as  the  divine  will. 

Endless  as  have  been  the  controversies  concerning 
the  freedom  of  this  faculty  in  action,  I  believe  that 
if  men  would  lay  aside  preconceived  notions,  and 
cease  to  press  it  into  the  service  of  some  theological 
formula,  there  would  soon  be  substantial  harmony. 
An  appeal  to  conscious  experience,  in  any  act  requir- 

*  Philosophical  Basis  of  Theism,  p.  349. 


In  His  Will  and  Mokal  Natuke.         259 

ing  an  exercise  of  the  will,  teaches  us  clearly,  meta- 
physics all  aside,  that  there  is  presented  to  the  mind 
in  some  form  a  desire,  or  a  want,  and  the  mind  forms 
some  notion  as  to  how  that  desire  can  be  gratified,  or 
that  want  supplied,  and  forthwith  the  will  proceeds  to 
put  forth  such  efforts  as  the  mind  says  are  necessary 
to  that  gratification  or  supply.  Every  man's  con- 
sciousness tells  him  that  in  the  putting  forth  of  this 
effort  the  will  acts  in  a  distinctively  creative  capacity, 
acts  identically  as  we  must  think  of  the  Infinite 
Creator  acting  in  his  creative,  or  directive,  processes. 
The  difference  between  the  two  is  quantitative  and 
not  qualitative.  There  are  things  which  God  him- 
self cannot  do.  Let  us,  then,  freely  admit  that  man 
is  placed  under  limitations,  and  not  fear  that  in  so 
doing  we  disrobe  him  of  divinity. 

God  cannot  make  two  and  two  equal  five,  or  a  given 
mass  to  be  round  and  square  at  the  same  time  and  in 
the  same  sense,  or  north  to  be  south  at  the  same  time 
and  in  the  same  place,  or  right  to  be  wrong  in  regard  to 
the  same  act  under  the  same  circumstances.  And 
yet,  one  would  almost  conclude  that  certain  metaphy- 
sicians were  disposed  to  consider  it  necessary  that 
man  be  shown  to  be  capable  of  doing  some  of  these 
things,  or  their  equivalent,  in  order  to  maintain  his 
place  as  a  man.     Mistaken  theorists  ! 

Those  who  endeavor  to  make  this  appear  are,  as  a 
rule,  men  who  desire  to  lay  upon  supernaturalism  a 
burden  which  does  not  belong  to  it,  by  demanding 


2G0  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

proof  of  something  the  very  existence  of  which  is  not 
claimed. 

We  are  offensively  and  patronizingly  told  that  the 
universe  is  under  law,  and  that  man,  being  an  integral 
factor  in  that  universe,  must  come  under  its  general 
laws  ;  and  that  the  will,  being  a  part  of  the  man,  must 
be  under  law.  As  if  we  did  not  know,  or  were  unwill- 
ing to  admit  the  facts  !  But  "  law  "  is  a  very  ambigu- 
ous term,  and  nothing  pleases  a  controversialist  with 
a  poor  case  quite  as  well  as  a  word  which  can  be  made 
to  assume  almost  any  meaning  the  user  may  choose. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  before  we  can  proceed 
intelligently  with  the  consideration  of  our  subject, 
some  attention  must  be  given  to  this  term.  Law, 
properly  understood,  is  every-where,  and  well  de- 
serves the  high  consideration  accorded  to  it.  No  class 
of  thinkers  are  more  enthusiastic  in  its  praise  than 
theologians,  and  yet,  one  who  confines  his  read- 
ing to  the  works  of  modern  skeptical  scientists  would 
naturally  conclude  that  theology  had  completely  out- 
lawed all  law,  and  was  running  wild  and  frenzied  in 
a  domain  all  fanciful  and  marvelous,  wherein  nothing 
possessed  any  regularity ;  while  physical  science  had 
become  the  conservator  of  all  regulation,  certainty, 
and  law,  and  was  maintaining  not  only  the  equilibrium 
of  the  material  universe,  but  patiently  striving  to 
bring  the  universe  of  mind  and  morals  into  some  sort 
of  harmony  in  action  and  sentiment. 

Long  before  the  great  modern  revival  of  physical 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         201 

science  put  into  every  body's  mouth  the  praises  of 
"  natural  law  "  the  great  Hooker  declared  :  "  Of  law 
no  less  can  be  said  than  that  her  seat  is  the  bosom  of 
God,  her  voice  the  harmony  of  the  world  ;  all  things 
in  heaven  and  earth  do  her  homage,  the  very  least  as 
feeling  her  care,  the  greatest  as  not  exempted  from 
her  power,  both  angels  and  men  and  creatures  of  what 
condition  soever,  though  each  in  different  spheres  and 
maimer,  yet  all  with  uniform  consent  admiring  her 
as  the  mother  of  their  peace  and  joy."  *  And,  all 
through  the  years  of  unparalleled  progress  which  have 
since  intervened,  no  class  of  men  have  so  uniformly 
honored  and  reverenced  general  laws  as  theists. 

Sir  William  Dawson  says  in  plain  and  unambiguous 
language  :  "  The  creative  work  is  itself  a  part  of 
divine  law,  and  this  in  a  threefold  aspect :  first,  the 
law  of  the  divine  will  or  purpose ;  second,  the  laws 
impressed  on  the  medium  or  environment ;  third,  the 
laws  of  the  organism  itself  and  of  its  continuous  mul- 
tiplication, either  with  or  without  modifications." 

But,  as  already  indicated,  there  is  a  wide  difference 
between  the  meanings  attached  to  this  term  by  theists 
and  anti-theists,  as  well  as  a  striking  contrast  between 
the  character  of  the  language  and  argument  made  use 
of  by  these  two  classes.  For  example,  we  take  up 
The  Dynamics  of  Nerve  and  Muscle,  by  Charles 
Bland  Radcliffe,  and  we  find  a  most  stilted  exaltation 
of  physical  law,  and  a  constant  slurring  of  those  who 

*  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  book  i. 


2G2  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

do  not  bow  humbly  at  the  shrine  of  naturalism.  He 
concludes  as  follows  :  "  Every  tiling  is  in  opposition 
to  the  dogma  which  ascribes  to  nerve  and  muscle  a 
life  of  which  the  state  of  action  is  the  expression." 

"  Dogma"  indeed!  In  the  mind  of  such  a  writer, 
whose  pages  are  literally  teeming  with  the  rankest 
assumption  and  assertion,  every  principle  enunciated 
by  a  believer  in  revelation  is  "  dogma,"  every  oppo- 
nent a  "  fanatic,"  and  every  genuine  Christian  a  de- 
luded follower  of  a  still  more  deluded  Leader. 

The  same  author  in  a  more  recent  work,  Vital  Mo- 
tion a  Mode  of  Physical  Motion,  says  :  "  Every  thing 
is  in  flat  contradiction  to  the  current  doctrine  of 
vital  motion.  Every  thing  tends  to  bring  phenomena 
which  have  been  regarded  as  exclusively  vital  under 
the  dominion  of  physical  law,  to  transmute  vital 
motion  into  what  proves  to  be  nothing  more  than 
a  mere  mode  of  physical  motion." 

What  have  we  here?  A  most  characteristic  and 
striking  illustration  of  the  absurd  extremes  to  which 
a  pet  theory  may  carry  a  very  learned  man,  if  he  con- 
stantly looks  upon  one  side  of  all  truths,  and  persist- 
ently shuts  out  all  elements  which  would  spoil  his  the 
ory.  And  such  illustrations  are  abundant ;  abundant 
among  not  merely  the  dabblers  in  physical  science, 
from  whom  we  should  expect  just  such  inconsiderate- 
ness,  but  also  among  those  from  whom  we  have  a  right 
to  expect  better  judgment,  and  more  conservative 
language. 


In  IIis  Will  and  Moral  Nature.  263 

One  of  the  most  characteristic  marks  of  genuine 
scientific  attainments  is  modesty.  As  a  most  gratify- 
in**  change  from  the  preceding,  I  quote  the  following 
from  a  Christian  theist,  Hermann  Lotze,  in  a  work 
of  great  erudition  recently  published  (1884),  entitled 
Investigation : 

"  In  theoretical  investigations  of  reality,  we  mean 
by  a  law  the  expression  of  the  peculiar  inward  rela- 
tion which  exists  between  two  facts  and  constitutes 
the  ground  at  once  of  their  conjunction  and  of  the 
manner  of  this  conjunction,  and  in  every  simple  case 
there  is  but  one  law.  Tiie  rule,  on  the  other  hand, 
prescribes  a  number  of  logical  or  mathematical  opera- 
tions of  thought,  by  which  we  are  so  to  combine  our 
perceptions  as  to  arrive  at  conclusions,  which  in  their 
turn  tally  with  reality  ;  and  there  may  be  several  such 
rules,  all  equally  sound,  for  one  and  the  same  case. 
It  is  clear  that  not  a  few  of  the  methods  of  procedure 
at  present  in  vogue  are  mere  rules  ;  but,  more  than 
that,  it  remains  an  open  question  whether  any  one  of 
the  laws,  which  we  believe  ourselves  to  have  discov- 
ered, really  deserves  the  name.  The  ultimate  crite- 
rion of  sense-perception  is  to  be  found  in  sense 
itself." 

The  manifest  modesty  of  this  statement  concerning 
law — law  !  the  term  which  every  fledgeling  in  physi- 
cal  science,  and  every  novitiate  in  metaphysics,  as  well 
as  the  great  materialists  and  pantheists,  have  first  dei- 
fied, and  then  fallen  prostrate  before  in  most  adoring 


261  Man  a  Kevelation  of  God. 

worship — cannot  but  impress  every  careful  thinker, 
coming  as  it  does  from  a  very  prince  among  scientific 
men,  and  uttered  as  it  was  in  the  full  light  of  the 
most  recent  revelations  of  applied  science.  It  is  but 
another  striking  illustration  of  the  contrast  existing 
between  the  genuine  searcher  after  truth  and  the 
mere  theorist,  who,  having  formulated  an  hypothesis 
supposed  to  be  new,  or  having  caught  up  the  echo 
of  some  popular  thinker's  formula,  continues  to  nurse 
it,  or  re-echo  it,  determined  to  bring  all  the  world  to 
his  criterion. 

So  far  from  its  being  true  that  Christian  scholars, 
believing  in  man's  sovereignty  as  a  free  moral  agent 
because  of  this  endowment  of  will,  desire  to  invalidate 
the  claims  of  law  in  its  true  sense,  they  fully  realize, 
and  constantly  affirm,  that  law  is  necessary  to  that 
sovereignty ;  that  without  law  all  would  be  veriest 
chance,  amounting  to  the  worst  sort  of  fatalism. 

This  fact  is  dwelt  upon  by  many  writers  on  mind 
and  morals,  and  I  can  hardly  conceive  of  scientific 
men  remaining  ignorant  of  the  fact,  unless  it  be  be- 
cause they  ignore  all  books  on  mental  and  moral 
topics  as  unworthy  the  name  of  science,  and  so  never 
examine  them,  much  less  read  or  study  them.  The 
following  from  Dr.  Upham  is  only  one  of  many  sim- 
ilar declarations  by  authors  on  mental  science  of 
almost  every  phase  of  theological  opinion : 

"  Law  and  liberty  necessarily  go  together.  If  it 
could  be  shown  that  the  will  acts  irrespective  of  any 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         265 

determinate  methods  and  principles  of  action,  in 
other  words,  if  laws  were  not  in  any  sense  predicablc 
of  the  will,  then  it  would,  of  course,  follow  that  it  is 
the  subject  of  mere  contingency  and  accident,  which 
entirely  and  fully  comes  up  to  the  utmost  idea  of 
fatality.  And  it  would  be  found  to  be  a  fatalism  of 
the  worst  kind  ;  an  unintelligent  fatalism.  But  hav- 
ing shown  that  the  will  has  its  laws,  we  secure  in  that 
single  fact  the  possibility  of  liberty  which  we  could 
not  have  without  it.  We  are,  accordingly,  in  a  situ- 
ation in  which  the  liberty  of  the  will,  that  important 
and  noble  attribute  of  a  morally  accountable  nature, 
is  not  necessarily  excluded,  which  would  certainly 
be  the  case,  if  the  will  were  driven  about  hither  and 
thither,  without  any  possible  foresight  of  what  is  lia- 
ble to  take  place,  and  without  any  regularity  of 
action.  If  there  is  perfect  harmony  in  other  parts  of 
the  mind  there  will  be  perfect  freedom  in  the  will."* 

But  I  must  not  devote  any  further  space  to  the  con- 
sideration of  this  somewhat  metaphysical  phase  of 
our  subject.  Thus  much  has  seemed  necessary,  to 
the  end  that  what  may  be  said  hereafter,  and  the  in- 
ferences which  shall  be  drawn,  might  rest  on  a  sure 
and  well-understood  foundation. 

With  this  view  of  the  will  as  an  "  either-causal 
power,"  in  the  midst  of  all  the  conflicting  circum- 
stances and  conditions  of  life,  we  gain  new  concep- 
tions of  the  dignity  of  humanity,  of  its  separateness 

*  Mental  Philosophy,  p.  505. 
12 


2CG  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

from  all  other  earthly  life,  of  the  sacredness  of  duty, 
and  of  the  immeasurable  significance  of  that  little 
word  ought. 

Even  an  imperfect  recognition  of  this  view  led 
Kant  to  give  way  to  his  enthusiasm  as  follows: 
"  Duty !  thou  great,  sublime  name  !  Thou  dost  not 
insinuate  thyself  by  offering  the  pleasing  and  the 
popular,  but  thou  commandest  obedience.  To  move 
the  will,  thou  dost  not  threaten  and  terrify,  but  sim- 
ply settest  forth  a  law,  which  of  itself  finds  entrance 
into  the  soul ;  which  even  though  disobeyed  wins  ap- 
proval and  reverence,  if  not  obedience  ;  before  which 
the  passions  are  silent,  even  though  they  work  secretly 
against  it." 

And  who  that  has  moved  much  among  men  and 
taken  note  of  their  struggles  and  triumphs  has  not 
been  led  to  similar  thinking,  even  though  he  may 
never  have  put  his  thought  into  words  ? 

Man,  as  an  animal,  is  full  of  animal  passions  and  ap- 
petites. If  only  an  animal  he  would  be  entirely  at 
their  mercy.  But  endowed  with  will  he  restrains  ap- 
petite and  curbs  passion,  asserting  his  supremacy  over 
not  only  every  material,  but  every  physiological  force, 
and  manifests  forth  the  divinity  which  is  within  him. 
So  important  is  the  will  that  it  has  come  to  be  regarded, 
in  some  sense,  as  the  measure  of  the  man.  To  say 
of  a  man,  "  Pie  has  a  weak  will,"  is  to  offer  as  your 
opinion  that  he  is  effeminate.  "He  is  a  brilliant 
fellow,  but  has  no  will  of  his  own,"  is  accepted  as  a 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         207 

sure  prophecy  of  failure  ;  while  "  He  is  a  slow  thinker 
and  a  blundering  speaker,  but  has  a  will  like  iron,"  is 
accepted  as  an  almost  certain  prophecy  of  success. 
This  is  the  universal  verdict  of  mankind.  Will  is 
acknowledged  to  be  an  all-important  faculty. 

A  man  without  will-power  would  descend  to  a 
level  lower  than  the  brutes.  To  a  "lower  level,'1  be- 
cause, with  all  the  animal  passions  and  appetites  of 
brutes,  he  has  not  the  natural  brute  instinct  to  pre- 
serve him  from  self-degradation. 

Behold  a  man  who,  by  the  indulgence  of  an  appe- 
tite for  strong  drink,  has  suffered  the  inevitable  con- 
sequence— a  weakened  will !  lie  has,  perhaps,  a  gen- 
erous, kindly,  large-hearted  nature.  lie  has  a  wife  and 
children  whom  he  loves  with  all  the  wealth  of  affection 
possible  to  the  human  heart.  He  has  a  beautiful 
home,  furnished  with  every  comfort.  He  has  a  host 
of  true  and  tried  friends  who  regret,  beyond  expression, 
to  see  his  downward  course,  and  are  ready  to  let  the 
past  be  past  and  consider  life  as  begun  anew.  lie  has 
been  drinking  to  excess  for  years.  His  debauches 
have  become  prolonged  and  awful  in  the  extreme,  un- 
til finally  delirium  tremens  have  seized  upon  him,  and 
after  a  severe  illness  he  has  recovered,  and  during  his 
convalescence  he  has  shed  many  bitter  tears  over  his 
reckless  and  shameful  debaucheries.  Surrounded  by 
the  ennobling  influences  of  his  beautiful  home,  and 
encouraged  by  the  abiding  love  of  wife  and  children 
and  the  hearty  assurances  of  his  friends  that  he  shall 


2G3  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

be  the  same  to  tliem  again  as  ever,  if  only  lie  will  let 
drink  alone,  he  has  signed  a  total  abstinence  pledge, 
and  goes  forth  fully  resolved  never  to  touch  nor  taste 
the  accursed  stuff.  I  am  supposing  him  to  be  trusting 
simply  in  himself;  supposing  him  not  to  have  taken 
his  weakened  will  to  Christ  to  have  it  made  anew, 
in  the  obtaining  of  a  regenerated  nature.  He  remains 
firm  for  a  little  time,  till  the  old  appetite  comes  back 
again,  or  until  some  old  crony  invites  him  to  take  a 
social  glass.  He  looks  at,  or  thinks  about,  the  drink, 
and  all  his  past  life  comes  up  before  him.  Memory 
is  as  true  as  ever.  lie  sees  his  recent  condition  of 
beastly  drunkenness,  and  subsequent  terrible  illness. 
lie  sees  the  former  disgrace  and  heart-breaking  grief 
of  his  family,  and  their  glad-hearted  hopefulness, 
when,  after  his  recovery,  he  over  and  over  again 
beo-u-ed  their  forgiveness  and  promised  to  never, 
never  drink  again.  He  sees  the  whole  with  a  vivid- 
ness almost  supernatural,  and  his  very  soul  abhors  the 
drink,  while  his  whole  nature  revolts  against  allowing 
a  single  drop  to  pass  his  lips ;  and  yet,  alas !  his  will 
destroyed,  he  yields,  and  drinks,  and  is  soon  a  beast 
once  more,  wallowing  in  the  mire. 

In  contrast  with  this  only  too  common  scene,  behold 
the  man  who,  from  his  earliest  youth,  has  firmly  set 
his  will  against  not  only  inherited  appetites  and  car- 
nal passions,  but  also  against  adverse  circumstances. 
We  will  suppose  him  born  of  a  parentage  both  be- 
sotted and  unclean;  born  in  poverty  and  reared  in 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         2C>9 

disgrace.  He  was  surrounded  during  childhood  by 
every  influence  calculated  to  corrupt,  and  event- 
ually to  destroy.  But,  as  advancing  boyhood  devel- 
oped into  a  kind  of  premature  youth,  he  began  to 
learn  something  of  the  former  history  of  his  parents; 
learned  that  his  mother  was  the  child  of  wealth 
and  culture,  and  married  his  father  as  a  young  man 
of  brilliant  prospects  but  fast  habits;  learned  that 
during  ten  years  of  wedded  life  they  lived  in 
luxury,  and  moved  in  good  society,  notwithstanding 
his  father's  wayward  life,  but  that  gradually  the 
ruin  came,  so  that  hisfiyes  never  saw  a  sober  father, 
or  a  chaste  mother.  Learning  these  facts,  he  re- 
solved to  rise  above  his  surroundings  and  vindicate 
the  family  name  and  honor.  Other  boys  around 
him  spent  their  days  in  lazy  strolls  or  lounging, 
and  their  nights  in  street  mischief ;  he  spent  his 
days  in  earnest  toil  at  any  thing  which  would  bring 
him  an  honest  dime,  and  his  nights  in  reading  and 
study.  Other  boys  spent  their  money  for  cigar- 
ettes, candy,  and  toys ;  he  spent  his  for  food  and  cloth- 
ing, and  an  occasional  book.  Other  young  men  began 
to  drink,  and  frequent  places  of  vice,  and  did  all  in 
their  power  to  induce  him  to  join  them,  making  use 
of  both  coaxing  and  taunts ;  but,  although  inherited 
appetite  gnawed,  with  what  would  seem  resistless 
power  to  any  ordinary  youth,  and  his  baser  passions 
lured  him  on  to  go  with  them,  he  went  not.  There 
was  ever  a  steady  gleam  in  his  eyes  as  they  met  the 


270  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

eyes  of  his  enticers,  which  led  them  finally  to  say, 
"  It's  no  use.  He  is  as  stubborn  as  a  mule."  Other 
young  men  wore  fine  clothes,  and  boarded  at  expen- 
sive places,  and  sometimes  made  him  feel  that 
he  was  despised,  but  he  pocketed  every  slight, 
ignored  every  supercilious  snub,  and,  with  face  firm 
set  as  the  face  of  fate,  moved  steadily  on,  never 
swerving  a  hair's-breadth  from  the  determination, 
formed  when  a  boy,  to  rise  above  his  surroundings  and 
vindicate  the  family  name  and  honor.  All  blandish- 
ments of  sin  and  all  solicitations  of  ease  were  alike 
powerless  to  turn  him  from  his  chosen  course.  Some- 
times they  came  in  upon  him  like  a  flood,  and  it 
seemed  for  a  time  that  all  the  hosts  of  darkness, 
combined  together  in  hideous  shapes  of  hereditary 
tendencies,  and  adverse  circumstances,  and  fiendish 
associates,  would  drag  him  down  despite  all  resist- 
ance ;  but  out  of  all  such  times  of  awful  crisis  he  came 
forth  with  unscathed  soul,  and  with  his  will  strength- 
ened by  conflict. 

Behold  him  now  as  he  moves,  a  prince  among  his 
peers !  All  the  adornments  of  learning  have  been 
added  to  a  character  solidified  by  suffering  and  sub- 
dued by  grace.  In  the  midst  of  multitudes  of  friends 
and  admirers,  and  abundantly  supplied  with  all  that 
an  honestly  earned  fortune  can  secure,  he  moves  mod- 
estly on,  a  mighty  power  in  the  community,  a  cham- 
pion of  every  good  cause,  hailed  as  a  benefactor  every- 
where, his  very  presence  a  strengthening  benediction. 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         271 

Who  shall  say  that  here  is  not  a  revelation  of  God 
in  the  human  will?  Who  so  blinded  by  the  false 
lights  of  a  preconceived  theory  as  not  to  see  the 
image?  Who  so  deafened  by  the  clangor  of  athe- 
istical trumpets  as  not  to  hear  the  divine  voice? 

My  readers  know  full  well  that  this  is  no  overdrawn 
fancy  sketch,  but  one  which  has  had  its  parallel  in 
every  Christian  land.  History  is  full  of  such  bright 
examples.  Our  own  America  already  furnishes  many 
striking  illustrations  of  this  divinity  within  us,  as 
seen  in  the  winning  of  literary  or  scientific  fame, 
and  in  the  creation  of  great  fortunes,  by  boys  who 
had  no  capital  with  which  to  commence  except 
a  sound  body  and  that  indomitable  energy,  or  will- 
power, which  never  confesses  failure,  but  builds  anew 
on  the  ashes  of  what  seemed  complete  destruction, 
while  weaker  wills  are  whining  over  their  ruin. 

The  super-sensual,  or  hyper-material  nature  of  the 
will  may  further  be  seen  in  its  power  over  all  bodily 
and  material  forces. 

Will  can  stand  true  to  right  against  every  adverse 
power,  both  within  and  without.  We  sometimes 
hear  people  talk  of  breaking  the  will  by  physical 
force.  But,  in  reality,  this  is  impossible;  and  this 
very  fact,  that  it  is  contrary  to  consciousness  to  con- 
ceive of  breaking  a  will  with  clubs,  or  binding  it 
with  chains,  is  presumptive  proof  of  our  position. 
You  may  break  a  man's  skull  with  your  clubs,  and 
pound  every  bone  that  is  breakable  into  shivers,  and 


272  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

as  loii£  as  life  lasts  his  will  can  assert  itself  against 
you,  and  defy  your  physical  power.  You  may  chain 
him  fast  to  some  lone  rock,  and  permit  starvation  and 
exposure  to  do  their  destroying  work;  and  though 
every  physical  force  cries  out  against  the  will,  though 
in  the  midst  of  his  agonies  you  may  offer  him  release 
if  he  will  but  speak  a  single  word,  which  his  will 
says  shall  not  be  spoken,  he  will  remain  silent. 
You  may  hold  out  to  him  the  most  tempting  and 
savory  food,  while  the  gnawings  of  hunger  are  inex- 
pressibly awful,  and  tell  him  he  may  eat  to  his  ii  11  if 
only  that  word  be  spoken,  and  still  he  will  remain 
silent.  Just  when  the  most  excruciating  thirst  of  ap- 
proaching death  is  upon  him,  you  may  hold  within 
one  inch  of  those  parched  lips  a  glass  of  purest  water, 
and  however  loudly  every  physical  force  in  all  his 
body,  every  atom  with  all  its  "  potency,"  every  muscle 
with  all  its  "  dynamical  power,"  every  nerve  with  all 
its  "conserved  energy,"  every  blood  corpuscle  with 
all  its  marvelous  "appetencies,"  however  loudly  they 
may  one  and  all  cry  out,  beseeching  the  will  to  speak 
that  word,  and  secure  the  life-giving  water,  the  word 
will  remain  unspoken.  Silent,  of  that  w^ord  at  least, 
those  lips  will  growT  cold  in  death,  every  physical 
force  cease  its  action,  and  the  all-conquering  spirit, 
of  which  the  will  is  the  sovereign  part,  escapes  not 
merely  your  chains  but  all  chains,  and  rises  superior 
to  every  restraining  force. 

Nor  is  this  all.     That  same  will,  which  cannot  be 


In   His  Will  and  Mural  Nature.  273 

coerced  by  physical  force,  can  itself  coerce  all  those 
forces.  It  can  say  yes,  as  well  as  no.  This  is  seen 
when  the  will  compels  any  member  of  the  body  to 
do  that  against  which  every  element  of  the  bodily 
forces  rebels ;  as,  for  example,  when  Cranmer  thrust 
his  hand  into  the  flame,  and  held  it  there  until  it 
was  entirely  burned  to  a  crisp.  Consider  just  how 
every  physical  force  would  do  its  utmost  to  snatch  the 
smarting,  writhing,  roasting  hand  from  the  flame !  But 
will,  for  the  sake  of  a  deeply-grounded  principle,  said, 
"  Stay  where  thou  art,  thou  faithless  hand,"  and  stay  it 
did,  till  it  was  no  longer  a  part  of  Cranmer's  body. 

The  long  list  of  martyrs  furnishes  a  multitude  of 
examples  of  this  uncoercible,  yet  coercing,  power  of 
the  will  ;  and  ever}7  reader  can  readily  call  them  to 
mind  without  citation. 

I  do  not  forget  that  in  all  these  examples  of  Chris- 
tian martyrdom  there  is  to  be  considered  the  moral 
element,  the  sense  of  obligation  ;  but,  as  will  be  sub- 
sequently pointed  out,  this  largely  inheres  in  the  will, 
and  cannot  be  separated  therefrom.  Piety  alone,  relig- 
iousness merely — ardent,  eager,  zealous  love  for  Christ, 
no  matter  how  genuine—  never  constituted  a  Latimer, 
a  Ridley,  or  a  Knox.  With  these,  there  must  co-exist 
the  inflexible  will,  to  make  up  the  martyr-spirit. 

Nor  need  we  go  back  to  those  early  days  to  find  ex- 
amples thereof.  This  revelation  of  God  in  man  is  to  be 
seen  in  many  of  the  humbler  walks  of  life,  where  self 

and  all   bodily  desires  and  natural  cravings  are  daily 
12* 


'J7!L  Majj  a  Revelation  of  God. 

restrained  by  the  power  of  a  noble  will,  acting  for  the 
good  of  others. 

This  hyper-material  power  of  the  will  is  also 
seen  in  its  control  over  disease.  Every  physician 
has  marked  the  workings  of  this  power  again  and 
again,  while  numerous  careful  observers,  not  phy- 
sicians, cannot  have  failed  to  note  the  same  thing. 
I  have  not  space  for  detailed  instances,  but  they  are 
every-where,  and  the  reader's  own  observation  can 
supply  them.  Volumes  which  read  like  romance 
have  been  written  by  grave  and  learned  doctors,  relat- 
ing circumstances  showing  a  mastery  of  the  will  over 
disease  which  seems  really  incredible.  And  yet  the 
evidence  is  so  explicit  that  it  cannot  be  reasonably 
doubted. 

I  remark,  in  passing,  that  one  of  the  bald  fallacies 
of  skeptical  reasoning  is  the  attempt  to  make  this 
well-recognized  fact  serve  as  a  proof  of  the  identity, 
or  sameness,  of  mind  and  matter.  That  a  more  con- 
tradictory proposition  can  scarcely  be  formulated, 
or  a  more  egregious  non  sequitur  be  proposed,  has 
been  sufficiently  shown  in  the  previous  chapter. 
Water  is  not  necessarily  a  house  because  water  ex- 
tinguishes a  fire  which  is  burning  up  the  house ; 
which  is  perhaps  about  all  that  is  necessary  to  say  in 
reply  to  this  sort  of  naturalistic  imreason. 

We  come,  however,  to  the  fullest  revelation  of  the 
divinity  in  man's  will  only  when  we  consider  its  re- 
markable power  over  the  other  faculties  of  the  soul  and 


In  IIis  Will  and  Moral  Nature.  275 

over  other  men.  The  dignity  and  Godlikeness  of  "  him 
who  rnletli  his  own  spirit"  have  long  been  acknowl- 
edged. The  man  who,  under  the  severest  provoca- 
tion, feels  the  hot  torrents  of  a  naturally  violent  tem- 
per surging  through  his  soul,  and  knows  that  he  can 
give  vent  to  his  wrath  if  he  choose,  without  harm  to 
himself  or  his  own  interests,  but  who,  from  sheer 
force  of  will,  says  to  the  angry  billows  of  foaming 
passion,  "  Peace,  be  still,"  proclaims,  with  eloquence  all 
the  more  divine  because  silent,  the  sovereignty  of  will 
In  its  exhibitions  of  power  over  other  minds  it, 
however,  appears  more  conspicuously.  It  appears 
thus  in  the  orator  who  is  called  upon  to  speak  to  an 
audience  not  in  sympathy  with  himself  or  his  theme; 
perhaps  even  violently  opposed  to  him.  lie  takes 
the  floor  amid  groans  of  derision  and  hisses  of  con- 
tempt. The  crowd  is  angry  and  turbulent,  but  with 
calm  dignity  he  begins.  The  gleam  of  his  piercing 
eyes  catches  the  eye  of  some  of  the  most  abusive,  and 
they  quail  into  silence.  His  voice  begins  to  be  heard, 
and  there  is  something  in  it  which  is  more  than 
sound.  There  is  an  indwelling  power  which  no  one 
undertakes  to  explain,  but  which  every  body  soon 
feels.  Erelong,  that  surging,  vindictive  crowd  be- 
comes a  respectful  audience.  His  masterful  will, 
going  out  through  eye  and  voice,  holds  them,  while 
his  arguments  and  persuasions  convince  and  move 
them,  until,  at  the  close,  those  who  were  ready  to 
mob  him   before  he   began  are  eager  to  do  his   bid- 


276  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

ding.  Again  and  again  have  howling  mobs,  thirsting 
for  blood,  been  thus  subdued  and  controlled.  Again 
and  again  have  parliaments  and  senates,  conventions 
and  councils,  which  seemed  determined  not  to  treat 
a  speaker  with  even  decent  courtesy,  been  compelled 
to  listen  to  and  respect  him,  by  sheer  power  of  in- 
domitable will.  The  English  House  of  Commons 
has  been  the  theater  of  many  a  struggle  which  was 
almost  solely  a  struggle  of  one  will  against  a  power- 
ful majority. 

Our  own  national  council  chambers  have  furnished 
the  same  pertinent  illustrations.  Hamilton,  Clay, 
Webster,  Sumner!  What  scenes  of  sublime  will 
contests  rise  before  the  student  of  American  history 
at  the  mere  mention  of  such  names ! 

This  sovereign  power  also  appears  thus  in  the 
leader  of  armies.  All  the  difference  between  a  uni- 
formly victorious  general  and  a  uniformly  retreating 
one  is  often  in  that  will-power  which  dominates  other 
minds,  which  makes  fighters  of  cowards,  and  turns 
poltroons  into  heroes. 

Sheridan  learns  that  disaster  has  come  to  his  army, 
lie  puts  spurs  to  his  horse,  and  makes  all  possi- 
ble haste  to  reach  the  scene  of  conflict.  With 
every  receding  mile  his  determination  to  turn  the 
tide  of  battle  increases;  so  that,  when  he  meets  his 
Giibordinate  commanders  and  their  men  in  full  re- 
treat, his  will  is  fixed  to  conquer  or  die.  He  compels 
them  to  halt,  to  re-form  their  broken  lines,  to  arrest 


Is  II  is  Will  and  Mokal  Nature.         277 

the  onward  march  of  a  powerful  enemy  flushed  with 
victory — in  a  word,  compels  them  to  refuse  to  acknowl- 
edge themselves  whipped,  and  whips  the  foe  instead. 

Grant  takes  a  discouraged  and  demoralized  army, 
in  a  time  when  the  North  is  half  paralyzed  by  un- 
accounted-for delays  and  purposeless  campaigns,  and 
the  South  is  flushed  with  the  hope  of  ultimate  success, 
and  with  a  resolute  will  goes  to  work.  He  puts  into 
shape  the  men  lie  has  and  gets  more.  He  commences 
to  advance,  and  holds  his  grip.  Statesmen  and  other 
generals  criticise  and  find  fault,  but  he  never  fal- 
ters. Mountains  of  difficulty  which  cannot  be  re- 
moved he  tunnels.  Obstacles  which  would  terrify 
other'  men  he  rides  triumphantly  over.  Finally, 
he  brings  every  will  into  subjection  to  his  own 
masterful  will,  and  "  On  to  Richmond "  changes  to 
''  Richmond  is  ours." 

Washington,  born  to  wealth  and  luxury,  and  yet 
reared  to  honest  toil  and  endowed  with  a  sturdy  will, 
lays  down  the  surveyor's  chain,  and  the  peaceful  pur- 
suits of  agricultural  life,  to  accept  the  organization  and 
command  of  the  colonial  armies.  A  well  organized, 
perfectly  disciplined,  and  thoroughly  equipped  army 
and  navy  are  determined  upon  the  subjugation  of  a 
few  sparsely  settled  colonies,  whose  inhabitants  are 
without  military  stores  or  money  to  purchase  them, 
without  soldiers  or  money  to  clothe  them,  and  an 
almost  measureless  frontier,  along  which  hostile  sav- 
ages  hover,  ready  to  join   with   tories  in  murder  and 


27S  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

pillage.  Worse  than  all  these,  there  are  men  in 
places  of  influence  and  power,  who  are  opposed  to 
him  at  every  step.  And  yet,  with  the  majestic  mien 
of  conscious  power,  he  moves  straight  forward  from 
one  crucial  test  to  another,  subduing  traitorous  hate 
here  and  stimulating  disheartened  loyalty  there,  by 
the  same  commanding,  God-given  power,  until,  with 
the  scars  of  eight  years  of  awful  gloom  and  unequal 
conflict  upon  him,  he  receives  the  sword  of  Corn- 
wallis  at  Yorktown. 

Cromwell,  the  Hampden  farmer,  comes  into  English 
history  apparently  all  unqualified,  and  full  of  incon- 
gruities ;  but  we  soon  discover  that  there  is  a  some- 
thing within  him  which  controls  other  men  :  a  will 
which  never  quails,  and  always  reigns  supreme. 
Whether  we  behold  him,  early  in  his  career,  leading 
on  his  freshly  recruited  Ironsides  in  the  skirmish  at 
Winceby,  or  biding  his  time  for  a  whole  month  round 
Musselburg  and  Calton  Hill,  awaiting  with  grim  de- 
termination the  opportune  moment  when,  at  Dunbar, 
he  strikes  down  three  thousand  of  Leslie's  army, 
captures  ten  thousand,  and  sends  the  remaining 
thousands  fleeing  for  their  lives;  or  whether  we  be- 
hold him  standing  like  adamant  in  the  midst  of 
contending  factions  and  warring  sections,  disvolving 
parliaments  and  tottering  thrones,  we  see  the  same 
sovereign  will;  the  same  divinity  within  puts  its 
stamp  on  rough-jacketed  plowman,  Lord  Lieutenant, 
and  Protector  of  the  Commonwealth. 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         279 

One  more  example  from  the  annals  of  war — Napo- 
leon, the  u  Little  Corporal."  He  rises  out  of  absolute 
obscurity.  He  manifests  great  daring,  and  comes  into 
prominence  as  a  military  leader.  Indications  of  that 
marvelous  control  over  other  minds,  which  we  are  now 
seeking  to  illustrate,  have  already  become  conspicuous 
when  his  troops  are  called  upon  to  stand  before  the 
Mamelukes  at  the  battle  of  the  Pyramids  in  Egypt, 
where  they  are  seen  in  all  their  grandeur.  The  French 
army  was  inferior  in  numbers,  and  formed  in  separate 
squares.  The  Mamelukes  charged  upon  them  with 
impetuous  fury  again  and  again.  With  bayonets  and 
with  horses,  with  every  conceivable  means,  and  with 
the  most  reckless  daring,  they  strove  to  break  those 
squares ;  but  in  vain.  Napoleon  was  in  the  midst  of 
his  men,  and  swerved  not.  The  one  inflexible  will 
infused  itself  into  all  others  and  made  them  adamant. 
The  same  power  is  seen  at  Austerlitz.  and  on  many 
another  bloody  field,  and  finally  at  Waterloo.  But 
here,  Greek  met  Greek.  Another  will,  as  stubborn 
and  even  more  powerful  than  his  own,  was  opposed 
to  his.  Here  occurred  one  of  the  sublimest  will-fights 
in  all  military  history.  The  "  Invincible  Bonaparte  " 
and  the  "Iron  Duke!"  All  subsequent  history 
changed  by  the  quality  of  one  human  will!  The 
proud  conqueror  of  all  the  armies  he  has  ever  grap- 
pled with  seeks  the  conquest  of  the  whole  of  Europe, 
and  the  world.  In  his  way  stands  a  will,  mighty 
to  control  itself  and  others.     The  story  has  been  too 


2S0  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

well  and  too  often  told  to  need  repetition.  The 
"  Iron "  yields  not !  The  mightier  will  abides,  the 
weaker  flees ! 

The  writer  does  not,  of  course,  suppose  that 
in  any  of  these  examples  of  the  control  of  one 
will  over  another,  will  was  the  only  element ;  or  that 
"in  these  military  contests  the  leader  was  the  only 
factor,  and  deserving  of  all  the  credit.  To  suppose 
this  would  be  folly  ;  and  yet,  in  the  central  power  of 
one  sovereign  will  was  the  mainspring  of  action  in 
all  these  contests. 

This  same  mastery  of  will  over  other  minds  is 
seen  in  all  the  walks  of  life.  Here  is  a  public 
school,  in  a  rough,  hard  neighborhood.  The  district 
has  long  been  a  terror  to  public  school  teachers.  Last 
October  a  frail  little  fellow  was  employed.  When 
he  came  into  the  neighborhood,  a  stranger,  every  body 
that  saw  him  said,  "  Why,  he  can't  manage  our  school ! 
The  big  boys  will  turn  him  out  of  doors  in  less  than 
a  week."  And  the  "  big  boys  "  were  all  on  hand  the 
first  morning  with  that  exact  intention.  But  there 
was  something  in  the  appearance  of  the  quiet  little 
fellow  that  caused  them  to  wait  a  little,  just  to  "see 
what  he  was  like."  There  was  a  directness,  a  pre- 
cision, a  calm  assurance  about  his  words,  and  in  his 
movements,  that  made  him  seem  "  bigger  than  his 
inches." 

Many  grave  consultations  were  held  during  the  in- 
termissions of  the  first   day,   and   around  the    "  four 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         2S1 

corners1'  in  the  evening.  But  two  or  three  burly 
fellows  declared  that  they  "  were  not  to  be  domineered 
over  by  a  pale-faced  boy  like  him."  Accordingly, 
the  next  day  they  took  occasion  to  place  themselves 
squarely  in  conflict  with  the  teacher's  plainly  expressed 
authority,  and  were  called  to  an  account  before  the 
whole  school.  At  first  they  were  not  only  unyielding, 
but  offensively  rebellious  ;  but  the  steady  gleam  of 
those  eyes  which  at  a  distance  seemed  so  mild,  the 
firm  tones  of  that  voice  which  heretofore  had  sounded 
so  weak,  the  consciousness  of  mastery  which  seemed 
to  show  itself  in  every  feature  of  that  pale  though 
rigid  face,  were  too  much  for  them.  Any  one  of 
them  could  have  picked  him  up  and  thrown  him  out 
of  the  window  without  much  effort,  but  their  brawny 
muscles  were  of  no  sort  of  use  in  such  a  conflict,  and 
they  simply  submitted,  they  knew  not  why.  That 
night  at  the  rendezvous  matters  were  discussed  again, 
and  the  vanquished  heroes  of  the  previous  evening 
said,  "We  don't  know  what  it  is,  but  there  is  some- 
thing in  our  little  teacher  that  we  don't  want  to  tackle 
again,"  and  so  they  all  concluded.  But  my  readers 
know  what  it  was.  It  was  the  image  of  God  as  seen 
in  a  powerful  will ;  a  clear  revelation  of  that  Creator 
who  formed  man  in  his  own  likeness,  and  gave  mind 
dominion  over  all  matter — and  the  more  powerful 
mind  a  measure  of  control  over  the  weaker. 

Every  observer  of  men  and  things  has  taken  note  of 
this  mastery  of  the  more  powerful  will  in  all  the  rela- 


282  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

tions  of  life.  The  child,  bent  on  doing  that  which 
parental  authority  forbids,  looks  squarely  into  the 
parental  eyes  to  see  if  it  is  safe  to  venture,  and  acts 
accordingly.  He  may  be  deceived,  but  will  generally 
take  a  very  just  measure  of  the  will  through  those 
soul-windows. 

The  hardened  highwayman,  who  would  be  supposed 
to  fear  nothing,  and  certainly  not  the  face  of  a  fel- 
low-man, has  often  been  known  to  quail  before  the 
piercing  eye  of  an  intended  victim,  simply  because 
he  saw  within  him  a  power  against  which  he  dared 
not  array  himself. 

If  we  turn  to  general  literature  for  information,  we 
find  that  every  writer  of  any  prominence,  in  all  the 
domain  of  history,  biography,  travel,  or  fiction,  no 
matter  what  his  theological  or  ethical  theories,  lias  ex- 
alted  the  dignity  of  the  human  will  ;  but  I  must  not 
indulge  in  even  the  briefest  references  thereto,  but 
leave  this  specific  subject,  to  take  up  the  moral  nature. 

The  Moral  Nature. 

If  we  were  just  commencing  to  look  for  a  revela- 
tion of  God  in  man,  and  were  about  to  consider 
"  The  Moral  Nature,"  it  might  be  necessary  to  pause 
at  the  outset  to  prove  that  man  has  a  moral  nature. 
But  after  what  has  been  already  written  this  can 
hardly  be  requisite,  unless  it  be  to  simply  indicate  in 
a  general  maimer  the  method  of  such  proof,  or,  more 
strictly  speaking,  the  great  outlines.     The  will  bears 


In  His  Will  axd  Moral  Nature.         283 

such  an  important  part  in  all  considerations  of  the 
moral  nature  that  the  whole  chapter  may  properly  be 
considered  as  pertaining  to  morals. 

The  words  duty,  ought,  obligation,  etc.,  or  their 
equivalents,  are  absolutely  necessary  to  any  discussion 
of  moral  character,  and  these  all  find  themselvres  joined 
somehow  to  will.  And  yet  there  is  a  somewhat  in 
the  moral  nature  which  is  over  and  above,  or  at  least 
outside  of  and  beyond,  the  will  alone. 

We  cannot  express  in  words  what  it  is  desired  here 
to  convey.  And  this  very  unvoiceable  character  of 
this  element  itself  furnishes  a  hint  of  just  what  we 
hope  to  indicate  a  little  more  clearly,  as  we  pass  along. 
The  acutest  thinkers,  and  the  foremost  masters  of  hu- 
man language  in  all  its  subtlest  forms,  have  striven  in 
vain  to  define  a  moral  idea.  This  class  of  thinkers 
and  writers  do  not  profess  to  actually  define  it,  but 
simply  strive  to  come  at  some  sort  of  an  understand- 
ing of  what  they  shall  consent  to  consider  it.  Occa- 
sionally some  fledgeling  can  tell  us  perfectly  all  about 
it,  and  offer  a  definition  which  is  comprehensively 
exact  and  exactly  comprehensive  ! 

We  can  investigate  a  moral  action,  within  certain 
limits,  as  a  student  can  examine  a  human  body,  but 
even  as  he  comes  ultimately  to  a  something,  or  a  some- 
what, which  his  scalpel  cannot  cut,  or  his  micro- 
scope see,  or  his  chemistry  analyze,  so  do  we  come 
at  last  to  a  faculty,  a  spiritual  entity,  for  which  we 
as  yet  have   no    satisfactory    word-dress.      That   the 


284  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

moral  quality  of  the  action  is  not  in  the  overt  act 
is  sufficiently  evident.  This  is  the  part  of  the 
supposed  moral  action  which  comes  first  under  our 
notice. 

Previous  to  the  overt  act  there  must  have  been  in 
the  mind  of  the  actor  a  complete  image  or  conception 
of  his  act.  But  it  is  not  in  this  second  part  which 
comes  under  our  notice  that  the  moral  quality  resides, 
for  this  is  merely  the  action,  existing  as  a  conception, 
awaiting  actualization.  Nor  can  we  discover  this 
moral  quality  for  which  we  are  seeking  even  in  the 
determination  to  materialize  that  conception,  if  we 
look  upon  the  determination  simply  as  a  resolve  to  do 
it  as  a  mere  action  without  reference  to  the  effect. 
But  when  we  trace  the  overt  act  back  thus  through 
the  mental  image,  and  the  determination  to  material- 
ize it  to  the  purpose  of  the  determination,  here  we 
find  the  moral  quality  which  we  denominate  good  or 
bad.  No  matter  what  the  outward  action,  as  far  as 
the  moral  quality  of  the  actor  is  concerned,  but  what 
was  his  intent.  An  illustration  may  serve  to  more 
clearly  bring  out  my  meaning  : 

1.  A  man  resolves  to  kindle  a  fire.  (Here  we  have 
the  purpose  formed.) 

2.  His  mind  forms  an  image  of  the  fire.  (Here  we 
have  the  conception  of  the  act.) 

3.  lie  kindles  the  fire,  and  it  burns  as  expected. 
(Here  is  the  overt  act.) 

But  tli us  far  the  reader  cannot  decide  what  quality 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature. 


2S5 


of  moral  action  I  am  supposing.  He  needs  to 
know  the  motive  of  the  kindling.  Let  him  shut 
this  book  without  looking  any  farther,  and  he  will 
remain  in  perfect  ignorance  of  the  moral  quality 
in  the  supposed  case.  But  when  he  reads  on,  and 
finds  me  saying  that  I  have  in  mind  a  man  re- 
solving upon,  conceiving  of,  and  actually  kin  ti- 
ling a  fire  to  burn  up  his  neighbor's  barn,  he  at 
once  says,  "  The  action  was  bad."  Had  it  been  that 
he  was  building  a  fire  to  warm  some  poor  suffering 
body,  he  would  have  as  quickly  said,  "The  action 
was  good." 

And  yet  he  cannot  define  it.  The  decision  is  ren- 
dered. You  ask  him  why  he  decided  the  one  action 
to  be  good  and  the  other  bad,  and  if  he  is  a  blunt  fel- 
low he  will  probably  ask  you  if  you  take  him  to  he  a 
fool!  If  he  is  inclined  to  be  philosophical  he  may 
undertake  to  explain  himself,  and  possibly  may  make 
the  matter  clear ;  but  the  blunt  fellow  is,  after  all, 
about  right.  The  rugged,  native  sense  is  clearest  on 
these  questions,  because  they  belong  to  a  domain 
which  the  dialectician's  tools  will  not  touch.  Every 
normal  mind  says,  "  Hands  off.  Unless  you  take  me 
for  a  fool,  don't  insinuate  that  I  don't  know  right 
from  wrong." 

This  is  one  of  the  most  fundamental  ideas  of  the 
mind.  It  is  not  derived  by  some  process  of  educa- 
tion, or  arrived  at  by  methods  of  logical  inference. 
Of  course,  it  may  be  developed  by  education,  and 


2S6  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

strengthened  by  inference,  but  developing  a  seed  and 
implanting  the  germ  are  two  widely  differing  pieces 
of  work.  This  spontaneous  judgment  upon  the  in- 
tent of  an  action  cannot  be  accounted  for  in  any  other 
way  than  by  admitting  that  it  is  an  absolutely  origi- 
nal element  of  our  nature.  Whence  did  it  come  2 
We  do  not  find  it  in  brutes,  no  matter  how  highly 
developed  their  physical  organism.  We  do  not  even 
look  for  it.     Why  not  ? 

A  horse  is  left  standing  near  a  valuable  young  tree 
and  gnaws  the  whole  top  off.  We  do  not  call  the 
horse  wicked  or  malicious.  No  question  as  to  whether 
or  not  he  had  a  grudge  against  the  owner  enters  our 
minds.  We  find  a  similar  tree  mutilated  by  human 
hands,  and  at  once  the  question  arises,  "  What  did  he 
do  that  for  ? "  Also  as  between  human  actions  this 
same  spontaneous  judgment  makes  perfect  selection; 
pronouncing  upon  some,  and  utterly  oblivious  to 
others. 

In  passing  certain  railway  tracks  I  see  a  switch- 
man shove  the  lever,  and  think  nothing  of  it  as  a 
moral  action.  It  is  what  I  see  him  doing  almost 
every  dav.  But  some  day  I  see  him  shove  the  same 
lever,  and  open  the  switch,  just  as  a  train  heavily 
loaded  with  passengers  is  coming  at  full  speed,  and 
immediately  I  say,  "  What  did  he  do  it  for?  Was  it 
a  mistake,  or  done  on  purpose?" 

I  look  out  of  my  study  window,  and  see  a  man 
walking  through  the  blinding  snow-storm.     No  ques- 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.  287 

tion  arises  as  to  the  moral  quality  of  the  walking. 
But  suppose  some  one  says  to  me,  "That  man 
has  just  heard  of  a  family,  ten  blocks  away,  who 
are  in  great  need,  and  he  is  carrying  them  food 
and  money."  At  once  something  within  me  says, 
"  What  a  good  deed ! "  The  storm  is  no  worse 
than  it  was  before  my  friend  informed  me  of  the 
facts,  and  he  does  not  walk  any  differently ;  and 
yet,  this  definitionless  faculty  within  me  did  not 
even  make  me  aware  of  its  existence  before,  but 
now  it  causes  my  wmole  nature  to  go  out  toward 
the  kind-hearted,  unselfish  man  who  will  face  such  a 
storm  to  give  of  his  food  and  money  to  strangers 
in  need. 

Now,  while  we  cannot  fully  explain  or  satisfac- 
torily define  the  moral  idea  or  faculty,  we  are  priv- 
ileged to  seek  for  the  ground  of  its  existence. 
This  search  is  full  of  interest,  and  has  occupied 
the  thought  of  many  of  the  best  minds  in  all  ages. 
All  are  agreed  that  it  must  rest  on  the  notion  of 
obligation  or  oughtness,  and  while  this  only  shifts 
the  question  the  shift  is  of  value,  inasmuch  as  it 
gives  us  a  term  on  the  etymology  of  which  we  can 
be  in  substantial  harmony. 

If  we  consult  Hobbes  we  find  him  laying  down  as 
the  foundation  of  all  obligation  the  civil  law.  But 
he  manufactures  his  "civil  law"'  out  of  the  absolute 
selfishness  of  men,  among  whom  there  is  simply  a 
combination  for   the   greatest  possible  self-gratifica- 


288  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

tion  and  protection,  wherein  ''acknowledgment  of 
power  is  called  honor." 

This,  of  course,  is  the  most  arbitrary  despotism. 
An  absolute  despotism  in  murals  is  a  far  worse 
anomaly  than  in  civil  affairs,  and  it  seems  strange 
that  both  could  enchain  as  many  bodies  and  minds  as 
they  have  at  certain  periods  of  history. 

Turning  from  this  first  modern  theorv  of  obli- 
gation,  we  notice  a  second  theory  which  is  quite 
extensively  held  at  the  present  day,  and  which 
'professes  to  exalt  God  and  the  divine  law,  very 
much  as  the  theory  of  Hobbes  professed  to  exalt 
the  state  and  the  civil  law ;  and  with  very  much 
the  same  result.  This  theory  says  we  must  obey 
God  simply  because  he  commands  us  to  obey 
him  ;  that  it  is  right  to  act  in  a  given  manner 
simply  and  solely  because  divine  authority  says 
so;  that  the  ultimate  ground  of  all  obligation  is 
the  will  of  God.  Whatever  God  wills  is  right 
hecause  he  wills  it.  This  theory  really  appears  well. 
It  seems  to  meet  the  demands  of  normal  thought. 
All  theists  grant  that  the  will  of  God  must  and 
should  be  obeyed.  All  grant  that  it  is,  or  ought  to  be, 
sufficient  for  the  determining  of  the  course  of  any  and 
every  true  believer  in  God,  to  know  the  divine  will 
in  the  case.  But  this  is  far  from  being  the  same  as 
granting  that  a  thing  is  right  simply  or  solely  because 
God  wills  it.  The  seeming  is  untrue  to  the  inner 
consciousness   after  all,  and   is  only  a  sort  of  verbal 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.  280 

trueness.  There  must  be  something  back  of  even  the 
divine  will.  The  mind  refuses  to  rest  satisfied  with- 
out postulating  this  something.  Having  thus  exer- 
cised faith  in  this  invisible,  undefinable  something, 
the  Christian  believer,  at  least,  and,  I  am  inclined  to 
think,  every  theist,  says,  "God  wills  it  because  it  is 
right,"  rather  than  "  It  is  right  because  God  wills 
it;"  although  in  practical  ethics  both  amount  to  the 
same,  for  the  divine  will  is  always  right. 

Other  theories  place  the  ultimate  ground  of  obliga- 
tion in  self-interest,  as  Paley  ; — in  Order,  as  Jouffroy; 
— in  the  true  nature  of  things,  as  Wollaston  ; — or  in 
the  relations  we  sustain  to  one  another  and  to  God, 
as  Wayland.  The  last  named  author  sums  up  the  ex- 
planation of  his  theory  as  follows :  "  Hence  we  sec 
that  two  tilings  are  necessary  in  order  to  constitute 
any  being  a  moral  agent.  They  are,  first,  that  he 
possess  an  intellectual  power,  by  which  he  can  un- 
derstand the  relation  in  which  he  stands  to  the  beings 
by  whom  he  is  surrounded ;  secondly,  that  he  possess 
a  moral  power,  by  which  the  feeling  of  obligation  is 
suggested  to  him  as  soon  as  the  relation  in  which  he 
stands  is  understood.  This  is  sufficient  to  render  him 
a  moral  agent." 

This  is  all  true  and  good  as  far  as  it  goes  •  but, 
as  with  the  "  right-is-right-because-God-wills-it  " 
theory,  there  must  be  something  back  of  these  "re- 
lations" to  account  for  the  oughtness  springing  out 
of  them. 
13 


290  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

The  theories  of  Dr.  Haven  and  Dr.  MeCosh  are 
full  of  suggestive  truth,  and  deserving  of  notice,  but 
1  must  forego  the  pleasure  of  examining  them  here  ; 
for  it  is  not  our  present  business  to  enter  upon  a 
metaphysical  discussion  of  morals,  or  a  theoretical 
analysis  of  man's  moral  nature,  but  simply  to  examine 
it  as  it  is,  and  see  what  elements  of  the  God-con- 
sciousness we  can  find  therein. 

In  this  examination  we  need  to  keep  distinctly  be- 
fore our  minds  the  conditions  of  moral  law  as  distin- 
guished from  physical  law,  or  law  in  general.  This 
word  "law"  is  so  much  used  at  the  present  day,  and 
so  carelessly,  that  those  who  desire  to  be  understood 
need  to  constantly  guard  themselves  in  its  employ- 
ment. Considerable  attention  wras  given  it  when 
speaking  of  the  will,  but  in  reference  to  the  moral 
law  even  greater  care  is  necessary. 

Under  this  general  term  the  enemies  of  supernat- 
uralism  would  range  not  merely  the  ordinary  move- 
ments of  society  and  nations,  but  the  moral  principles 
and  characteristics  of  individuals. 

In  every  possible  way  do  our  opponents  endeavor 
to  make  it  appear  that  law,  one  and  the  same,  forever 
uniform  and  changeless,  has  from  all  eternity  con- 
trolled, and  will  forever  control,  even  the  morals  of 
this  and  all  other  worlds. 

We  are  willing  to  meet  them  on  the  common 
ground  of  law — and  perhaps  may  agree,  provided 
they  will   consent  to  a  proper  division  of  law  into 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Xaitre.  201 

what  Dr.  Hopkins  call  the  "  laws  of  things  and  of 
persons,"  whatever  terms  we  may  agree  to  distin- 
guish them  by. 

"  Laws  are  of  two  kinds — of  things  and  of  persons. 
They  are  those  in  accordance  with  which  things  are 
controlled,  and  those  addressed  to  persons.  Under 
the  first,  the  sequences  are  uniform,  and,  so  far  as  the 
human  will  is  concerned,  necessary.  Under  the 
second,  there  is  an  alternative  presented  to  beings 
endowed  with  reason  and  free-will.  They  may  obey 
or  they  may  disobey.  Between  these  two  kinds  of 
laws  the  differences  are  radical.  Under  the  first,  the 
subject  does  nut  understand  the  law,  knows  nothing 
of  the  end  proposed,  is  not  capable  of  choosing  it,  is 
under  no  obligation  to  choose  it,  and  has  not  control 
of  the  force  requisite  for  its  attainment.  It  is  pas- 
sive, and  its  movements  are  necessitated.  It  is  only 
in  an  improper  sense,  or  figuratively,  that  rules  in 
accordance  with  which  beings  thus  unconscious  are 
controlled  can  be  called  laws.  The  most  striking 
ground  of  analogy  between  these  two  classes  of  laws 
and  the  basis  of  their  common  name  is  in  their  re- 
sults. This  is  order.  Uniformity,  and  thus  order, 
must  be  the  result  of  the  first  class  of  laws;  it  is 
the  result  of  the  second  when  obeyed.  Of  the  first 
class  of  laws,  the  laws  of  things,  there  are  several 
kinds,  as  physical,  vital,  mental ;  all  having,  however, 
the  characteristics  above  mentioned.  In  all  there  is 
a  force  uniformly  directed  to  an  end.     Up  to  a  cer- 


292  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

tain  point  the  mind  itself  is  as  much  subject  to  this 
class  of  laws  as  is  matter.  These  laws,  or  rather  the 
uniformities  which  are  their  exponent,  are  at  the  basis 
of  experience,  are  the  condition  of  education,  and  of 
that  intelligent  activity  by  which  means  are  adapted 
to  ends. 

u  The  second  class  of  laws,  or  laws  of  persons,  are 
obeyed  consciously.  The  subjects  of  them  under- 
stand the  law,  are  capable  of  choosing  the  end  it  pro- 
poses, are  under  obligation  to  choose  it,  and  have  at 
their  own  control  the  force  requisite  for  its  attain- 
ment. Under  this  class  law  is  not  merely  a  rule 
regulating  force  and  producing  uniformity,  or  as 
some  less  accurately  say,  the  uniformity  itself ;  but, 
as  designating  the  end,  it  is  directive.  It  is  also  im- 
perative. That,  however,  which  makes  it  to  be  law 
is  the  fact  that  it  is  obligatory.  An  end  may  be  des- 
ignated, we  may  be  commanded  to  attain  or  accom- 
plish it,  but  if  there  be  no  obligation  there  is  no 
law/'  * 

It  seems  decidedly  strange  that  men  possessing 
acuteness  of  analytic  power,  and  extensive  learning, 
should  ever  miss  these  manifest  distinctions.  And  yet 
we  must  conclude  that  they  either  actually  do  fail  to 
see  them  or  are  dishonest.  The  latter  we  do  not 
propose  to  charge  without  conclusive  proof.  As  Mr. 
Buckle  says  concerning  the  essentials  of  morals,  so 
say    we  concerning    these    essential   distinctions   in 

*  Law  of  Love,  p.  33. 


In  Ills  Will  and  Mojjal  Xatuke.         293 


1  .we,  "  They  have  been  known  for  thousands  of 
years,''  *  howbeit,  some  of  our  modern  savants  in 
philosophical  science  seem  not  to  have  heard  about 
them.  Why,  even  in  the  old  Grecian  works  on 
ethics  there  may  be  found  numerous  and  very  clear 
indications  of  the  firm  conviction  of  a  law  of  the 
spirit  which  was  above  the  law  of  the  flesh,  a 
sturdy  faith  in  the  absolute  power  of  mind  over 
body. 

As  an  illustration,  we  look  at  the  scene  in  Socrates' s 
cell,  as  he  lies  securely  chained  and  awaiting  his 
sentence.  His  friends  are  permitted  to  visit  and  con- 
verse with  him.  As  one  enters  he  says,  "  What 
brings  you  here?"  His  friend,  unwilling  to  speak 
the  awful  words,  replies,  "  I  come  with  serious  news/' 
To  which  the  old  hero  answers,  "  Ah  !  the  ship  is  re- 
turned from  Delos,  and  I  am  to  die  to-day."  "No! 
not  to-day,  but  to-morrow  or  next  day.  I,  however, 
have  come  to  tell  you -that  all  is  arranged  for  your 
escape  ;  and  for  the  credit  of  your  friends  and  of  the 
city,  as  well  as  for  the  sake  of  your  wife  and  children, 
you  must  get  up  and  flee  with  me."  "  No  !  Unless  the 
law  releases  me  I  stay.  The  laws  protected  my  birth, 
my  growth,  my  marriage,  and  my  whole  life.  They 
now  command  my  death.  Did  I  save  my  life  by 
breaking  them,  and  did  I,  like  a  runaway  slave,  find 
quarter  somewhere,  I  should  be  haunted  by  the 
ghosts  of  the  laws  of  my  country,  on  which  I  had  laid 
*  History  of  Civilization,  vol.  i,  p.  129. 


29-A  Man  a  Revelation  of  G 


od. 


guilty  hands."  He  remained  in  prison  and  his  chains 
were  taken  off.  "We  see  him  sitting  on  his  prison 
bed  a  willing  captive  in  some  sense.  He  would  not 
escape  when  his  friends  had  every  thing  arranged  for 
his  flight,  and  when,  probably,  even  his  enemies  would 
have  been  glad  to  be  rid  of  the  execution  without 
reversing  the  decree.  We  hear  him  as  he  sits  there 
teaching  philosophy,  setting  forth  the  principle  of 
the  mind's  control  over  the  body,  and  also  the  power 
of  moral  obligation  over  mind.  He  says,  "  Men  who 
pretend  to  account  for  things  by  telling  you  that  they 
are  formed  thus,  and  thus,  seem  to  me  like  a  man 
whom  I  should  ask  to  tell  me  why  I  am  sitting  bent 
here  on  this  bed  edge,  and  who  should  reply,  <  Because, 

0  Socrates,  the  muscles  and  the  nerves  are  bent  so, 
and  bend  the  bones  so,  and  therefore  yon  are  sitting 
there  so.'  Nay,  nay,  that  is  no  explanation.  When 
you  "—speaking  to  Crito — "  proposed  my  escape,  had 

1  been  possessed  with  the  thought  that  it  was  right  to 
escape,  that  thought  would  have  carried  off  the  bones, 
muscles,  and  nerves,  and  at  this  moment  the  whole  of 
them  would  have  been  in  Megara  or  somewhere  else, 
not  here.  But  I  was  possessed  with  the  thought  that 
it  was  right  to  abide  the  course  of  law  ;  and  that 
thought  was  the  true  cause  of  my  being  seated 
here." 

Socrates  was  ever  speaking  of  the  daimon  which 
dwelt  within  him,  and  which  directed  all  his  words 
and  acts.     The  very  head  and  front  of  his  offending 


In  IIis  Will  and  Moral  Nature.  205 

was  the  claim  to  tins  indwelling  divinity  which  mod- 
erns call  "conscience,"  or  the  "inward  voice."  He 
believed  iii  a  personality,  which  is  an  absolutely 
essential  condition  of  a  moral  being.  And  if  per- 
sonality is  absolutely  essential  to  man,  to  constitute 
him  a  moral  being,  we  cannot  think  of  the  Supreme 
Agent  in  the  universe  otherwise  than  as  a  person- 
ality or  person,  for  we  cannot  think  of  him  as  below 
man  in  the  scale  of  being,  or  as  any  tiling  less  than  a 
moral  agent. 

Man  having  set  before  him  a  supreme  end  to  be 
attained,  as  every  person  has,  and  having  the  mental 
ability  to  discern  that  "  end,"  urged  on  to  the  attain- 
ing of  that  "  end  "  by  the  true,  the  beautiful,  and  the 
good,  is  conscious  within  himself  that  he  may  choose 
to  attain  that  end,  or  some  other,  according  as  he 
pleases,  and  he  is  likewise  conscious  that  he  must 
choose  soine  end,  and  that  lie  is  responsible  for  the 
choice.  This  brings  again  into  view  another  essential 
condition  of  a  moral  being;  namely,  freedom.  He  is 
also  conscious  that  his  quality  or  character  will  de- 
pend upon  his  choice. 

Thus  is  he  consciously  made  the  arbiter  of  his 
own  destiny,  and  is  exalted  above  the  material 
universe  and  all  the  brute  creation,  becoming  a 
conscious  partaker  of  the  divine  nature,  a  law  unto 
himself,  a  co-worker  with  God  in  bringing  to  pass 
the  ends  and  processes  of  moral  government  under 
moral  law. 


29(3  .Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

It  matters  not  how  humble  a  place  he  may  fill,  his 
supreme  dignity  is  assured. 

In  fact,  it  is  only  when  men  have  become  unnatu- 
rally blind  that  they  fail  to  see  the  broad  distinctions 
between  physical  and  moral  law,  the  vast  superiority- 
of  mind  over  matter,  the  supreme  dignity  of  the 
moral  faculties,  and  to  ultimately  behold  the  indwell- 
ing God. 

According  to  the  psalmist,  "  The  fool  hath  said  in 
his  heart,  There  is  no  God."  I  do  not  stigmatize  non- 
theists  as  fools,  in  the  common  acceptation  of  that 
term,  but  I  have  been  very  much  interested  in  a 
work  by  Ilelvetius,  translated  from  the  French  by 
Hooper  in  1810,  entitled,  A  Treatise  on  Man,  Ills 
Intellectual  Faculties  and  His  Education,  m  which  he 
quaintly  and  vigorously  exposes  the  follies  of  pseudo- 
science  and  stilted  philosophy,  saying  many  things 
which  should  be  read  by  the  "popular  science1' 
writers  of  to-day.  In  one  paragraph  he  says  :  "  Man 
is  born  ignorant ;  he  is  not  born  a  fool ;  and  it  is  not 
even  without  labor  that  he  is  made  one.  To  be  such, 
and  to  be  able  to  extinguish  in  himself  his  natural 
lights,  art  and  methods  must  be  used;  instruction 
must  heap  on  him  error  upon  error;  the  more  he 
reads,  the  more  numerous  must  be  the  prejudices 
which  he  contracts.  The  ignorant  man  is  as  much 
above  the  falsely  learned  as  he  is  below  him  of  real 
science.  The  aim  of  bigotry  is  to  blind  mankind, 
and  bewilder  them  in   a  labyrinth  of  false  science." 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         297 

I  wish  the  reader  to  understand  that  I  am  not  plead- 
ing for  less  of  science,  or  less  of  mental  discipline, 
to  the  end  that  the  moral  nature  may  be  proportion- 
ately exalted,  and  "  crude  conscience,"  or  "  unques- 
tioning intuitions,"  as  some  please  to  phrase  it,  may 
have  completer  sway.  This  charge  is  sometimes 
made  against  those  who  magnify  the  importance  of 
the  "inner  voice,"  but  without  reason,  for  the  his- 
tory of  intellectual  progress  shows  that  no  class  of 
men  has  furthered  that  progress  as  substantially  as 
those  who  thus  do.  This  charge  is  "after  a  piece" 
with  the  silly  slurs  indulged  in  by  certain  smart  infi- 
dels against  "  blind  faith,"  "  unreasoning  conscience." 
etc,  ;  when  every  candid  and  careful  thinker  knows 
that  faith  is  at  the  very  foundation  of  even  ma- 
terial progress,  and  without  it  no  substantial  ad- 
vances could  be  made  in  literature  or  science,  in 
society  or  state,  any  more  than  in  the  Church.  As 
Winchell.very  aptly  says  in  summing  up  a  masterful 
scientific  work,  "Faith  is  the  logical  corollary  of 
science  and  the  highest  flight  of  reason." 

Conscience. 
We  have  been  glancinc*  somewhat  hurriedlv  at  the 
bolder  outlines  of  morals,  with  no  intention  of  enter- 
ing into  a  systematic  discussion,  but  now  we  desire  to 
look  a  little  more  closely  at  conscience.  To  enter 
upon  a  careful  examination  would  require  an  entire 
volume.  Sufficient  for  our  purpose  if  we  obtain  a 
13* 


298  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

view  amounting  to  clear  recognition,  without  the 
metaphysics  of  the  subject. 

We  care  little  for  definitions  as  such,  and  yet 
it  is  interesting  to  notice  a  few.  Wayland  says: 
uBy  conscience  is  meant  that  faculty  by  which  we 
discern  the  moral  quality  of  actions,  and  by  which 
we  are  capable  of  certain  affections  in  respect  to  this 
quality." 

Joseph  Cook  says :  "  Conscience  is  that  faculty 
which  makes  a  man  feel  mean  when  he  means  to  be 
mean." 

Dr.  Hopkins  says :  "  Conscience  is  the  moral  con- 
sciousness of  man  in  view  of  his  own  actions  as 
related  to  moral  law.  It  is  a  testifying  state.  As 
the  name  imports,  it  is  a  double  knowledge :  a 
knowledge  by  the  man  of  himself  together  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  law  and  as  related  to  that.  It 
involves  a  recognition  by  the  person  of  the  moral 
quality  of  his  own  acts,  <md  the  feelings  conse- 
quent upon  such  recognition.  It  affirms  obligation 
before  the  act,  approves  or  disapproves  after  the 
act,  and  in  doing  this  indicates  future  reward  and 
punishment." 

Now,  if  we  carefully  examine  these  and  a  dozen 
other  definitions,  more  or  less  comprehensive,  we 
cannot  fail  of  reaching  the  conclusion  that  they  are 
all  aiming  at  one  central  idea ;  namely,  that  of  an  in- 
ward monitor  which  makes  use  of  the  word  ought. 
The  complication  of  language,  the  multiplication  of 


In  His  Wilt,  axd  Moral  Nature.         299 

words,  the  endless  contentions,  arise  largely  from 
two  causes :  first,  the  desire  of  every  writer  to  use  a 
different  phraseology  than  all  previous  writers,  so  as 
to  be  considered  "original"  and  secondly,  the  desire 
to  somehow  lit  human  speech  to  a  faculty  to  which 
we  should  be  willing  to  accord  a  place  above  all 
human  language. 

Just  as  the  deepest  emotions  of  the  soul  are 
voiceless,  so  also  the  divinest  faculties  refuse  to  be 
defined.  But  we  are  after  a  look  at  the  facts  of 
conscience,  and  not  its  word-clothing.  That  they 
are  facts,  and  not  fancies,  entities,  as  truly  as 
though  they  could  be  weighed  and  measured, 
clearly  appears  to  every  one,  and,  if  illustration  or 
argument  were  thought  necessary,  might  be  readily 
made  out  from  what  has  been  already  indicated  in 
these  pages. 

Absolute  trust  in  our  own  consciousness  is  neces- 
sary to  the  establishment  of  any  position  in  either 
science  or  philosophy.  If  when  my  mental  con- 
sciousness tells  me  that  two  and  two  make  four  I  am 
sure  it  tells  me  the  truth,  I  am  equally  sure  that  my 
moral  consciousness  tells  me  the  truth  when  it  tells 
me  that  it  is  wrong  to  commit  murder.  I  may  not 
be  able  to  explain  the  how  of  either  conclusion,  but 
the  fact  is  there  in  both  cases,  and  is  a  fact  of  uni- 
versal consciousness.  As  such  I  have  a  right  to  as- 
sume its  truth  for  all  other  men,  and  for  all  other 
worlds. 


300  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

Just  as  all  geological  and  all  archaeological  re- 
search leads  to  the  conclusion  that  man  is  the  ulti- 
mate, the  completed  fact  in  creation,  so  does  all 
psychology  plainly  teach  that  among  the  various  fac- 
ulties of  the  soul  the  moral  faculty  is  ultimate — 
a  utJtoritative — supreme. 

A  man  does  not  need  to  study  theoretical  ethics 
in  order  to  discern  the  difference  between  right  and 
wrong.  He  cares  little  for  the  latest  deliverances  of 
dynamical  sociology  when  it  comes  to  deciding  con- 
cerning an  unprovoked  and  brutal  assault  upon  an 
innocent  man.  A  person  may  not  know  even  the 
meaning  of  ethics,  or  be  able  to  spell  the  word  con- 
science correctly,  but  when  he  sees  a  chance  to  steal, 
without  any  possibility  of  detection,  and  he  is  tempted 
to  the  act,  his  conscience  tells  him  it  is  wrong,  and 
he  knows  it  tells  the  truth. 

It  is  folly  for  the  objector  to  urge  that  there  are 
uncertainties  here  because  some  men,  in  a  low  state 
of  civilization,  lie,  and  steal,  and  commit  all  manner 
of  iniquity  without  any  apparent  self-condemnation  ; 
for  we  do  not  claim  an  infallible  conscience,  or  an 
unperverted  moral  consciousness,  any  more  than  we 
claim  an  infallible  reason,  or  an  unperverted  intellect. 
As  well  might  the}T  refuse  to  believe  in  the  existence 
of  reason  because  some  men  are  destitute  thereof,  or 
undertake  to  argue  that  nobody  could  see  because 
there  are  some  men  born  blind. 

The  great   Leibnitz   savs,   "  If   our  immediate   in- 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Natube.         301 

ternal  experience  could  possibly  deceive  us,  there 
could  no  longer  be  for  us  any  truth  of  fact;  nay, 
nor  any  truth  of  reason." 

One  serious  mistake  which  some  thinkers  make  is 
that  of  supposing  us  to  attribute  to  conscience  a  com- 
pelling power  which  is  irresistible.  This  is  farthest 
from  our  thought.  Conscience  does  have  authority, 
authority  which  is  original  and  imperative,  grounded 
in  the  very  innermost  sanctuary  of  our  being.  If  we 
disobey  that  authority  we  suffer.  And  yet— let  the 
reader  take  note— and  yet  we  may  disobey  it.  Here 
is  another  universal  fact  of  mental  consciousness,  and 
one  which  proclaims  man's  will  free ;  for  every  man 
says  within  himself,  "I  can  do  wrong  if  I  please." 
Hence  it  is  no  argument  against  the  existence,  or 
even  the  fullest  activity,  of  a  conscience  within  an 
individual,  that  he  does  wrong. 

Professor  Bowne,  in  Studies  in  Theism,  gives  some 
very  lucid  paragraphs  bearing  on  this  matter,  which  I 
must  quote  :  "  Any  thing  may,  and  must,  be  sacrificed 
rather  than  violate  the  sanctity  of  conscience.  Thus 
the  moral  law  appears  in  our  lives  as  an  unconditional 
imperative,  commanding  and  giving  no  reasons.  .  .  . 
But  this  law.  like  all  other  laws,  must  justify  itself  to 
our  reason.  This  instinct,  barely  as  instinct,  may 
rule  the  life  until  reason  comes;  but  then  it  must 
give  some  account  of  itself.  .  .  .  The  law  of  a  being 
depends  on  its  destiny  and  flows  from  it.  .  .  .  Any 
law  which  any  being  is  under  obligation  to  obey  must 


302  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

be  a  law  contrived  for  its  highest  good  ;  and  if  it  ap- 
pear that  any  law  runs  counter  to  our  true  good 
that  law  ceases  to  have  any  obligation,  both  reason  and 
conscience  being  judges.  .  .  .  We  do  not  mean  that, 
practically,  men  measure  duty  by  utility,  or  are  con- 
stantly asking,  What  shall  we  have  therefore  ?  But 
while  we  may  in  practice  command  obedience  with- 
out asking  reasons,  we  must  in  theory  always  be  able 
to  give  reasons.  Otherwise  our  command  is  irra- 
tional and  arbitrary.  Without  doubt  the  stand-point 
of  practical  morals  is  that  of  command  ;  but  theoretical 
morals  must  furnish  some  justification  of  the  com- 
mand. What,  then,  is  the  authority  and  meaning  of 
this  moral  law,  which  disturbs  our  lives,  crosses  our 
plans,  and  mars  our  peace?  Christianity  gives  an 
answer.  It  says  that  we  are  under  a  law  too  big  for 
the  earthly  life,  because  our  real  life  is  not  measured 
by  our  earthly  existence.  This  life  is  but  the  begin- 
ning, and  not  the  end.  It  reveals  this  life  as  photo- 
graphing itself  indelibly  upon  the  life  to  come.  It 
tells  of  moral  development  and  dignity  beyond  all 
thought  at  present.  We  are  called  to  communion 
with  God.  We  are  called  to  be  like  God.  We  are 
called  to  eternal  life  with  God.  This  is  our  destiny, 
and  our  law  is  correspondingly  great.  Whatever 
conflicts  with  this  destiuy  must  be  trodden  under 
foot.  Hence,  when  hand  or  foot  offends,  we  must 
cut  it  off  and  cast  it  from  us.  Hence  we  are 
to    strusrjrle    and    agonize    to    enter    into    life;    for 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         303 

the  gain  of  the  world  were  nothing  if  the  soul 
were  lost.  At  once  we  see  the  tremendous  signif- 
icance of  action  and  the  baseness  of  surrender  to 
the  brute  within  us.  .  .  .  Christianity  gives  a  rea- 
son for  the  moral  law,  and  justifies  it  to  our  intel- 
ligence." * 

We  should  ever,  in  all  our  estimates  of  the  supreme 
authority  of  conscience  within  its  sphere,  keep  care- 
fully in  mind  the  fact  that  conscience  needs  the  light 
of  revelation,  in  order  to  its  quickening  and  normal 
development.  With  equal  carefulness  should  we 
keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  no  amount  of  culture, 
even  Christian  culture,  can  bring  the  conscience  to 
such  a  degree  of  perfection  as  not  to  need  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Word.  A  failure  to  attend  to  the  latter  is 
even  more  pernicious  than  failure  in  the  former.  Let 
no  reader  conclude  that,  because  the  present  writer 
exalts  the  guiding  power  and  the  authoritative  char- 
acter of  conscience,  he  gives  any  countenance  to  the 
wild  dreams  of  that  fanaticism,  or  mysticism,  which 
professes  to  have  an  inner  guide  which  is  wise  above 
all  that  has  ever  been  written,  and  by  which  its 
possessors  become  a  law  unto  themselves,  in  the 
sense  that  the  transgression  of  all  other  laws,  both 
human  and  divine,  may  become  sacred  duty.  I 
believe,  with  Joseph  Cook,  that  "to  substitute  the 
Christian  consciousness,  in  any  sense,  for  adequately 
attested  revelation  and  the  scientific  study  of  it 
*  Studies  in  Theism,  p.  433. 


304:  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

is  the  wildest  insanity,  and  maintain  that  only  the 
strictly  self-evident  truths,  only  the  axiomatic  prin- 
ciples of  reason,  only  the  plain  deliverances  of  our 
organic  instincts  are  to  be  taken  as  God's  voice 
within  us." 

But  these  are  to  he  thus  taken,  and  they  are  always 
there,  an  abiding  revelation  of  God  within  ourselves. 
I  say  they  are  always  there,  and  they  speak  to  us  with 
unerring  certainty,  approving  when  we  do  the  right 
according  as  it  is  revealed  to  us  as  right,  and  con- 
demning when  we  do  wrong  through  conscious  wrong 
intent. 

Moreover,  this  same  conscience  causes  us  to  ex- 
pect these  results  to  follow  invariably  upon  our 
intentionally  right  or  wrong  acts.  We  are  sure 
of  the  joy  of  self-approval  for  the  one,  and  sure 
of  the  remorse  of  self-condemnation  for  the  other. 
From  Herod  down  to  Wilkes  Booth,  conscience 
speaks  the  same  language.  Before  one  there  comes 
the  bloody  head  of  the  great  fore-runner,  speaking 
with  ghastly  lips  of  the  awful  deed,  and  causing  him 
to  grow  pale  and  tremble,  though  surrounded  by  every 
possible  protection.  Before  the  other,  in  his  dying 
hour,  there  stands  the  great  emancipator  of  four 
millions  of  slaves,  and  in  awful  tones  cries,  "Blood, 
blood !"  until  the  agonized  wretch  lifts  his  almost 
pulseless  hands,  and  with  hoarse  voice  and  starting 
eyes  repeats,  "  Blood,  blood  !  " 

It  is  said  that  after  the  fearful   St.  Bartholomew 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.        C05 

massacre  sound  sleep  never  came  to  Charles  IX.  of 
France,  but  all  his  nights  were  nights  of  horrid 
visions  and  unnatural  sounds.  How  true  to  this 
history  is  Shakespeare's 

"Macb.  Still  it  cried,  Sleep  uo  more  !  to  all  the  house: 
Glamis  hath  murder'd  sleep ;  and  therefore  Cawdor 
Shall  sleep  no  more,  Macbeth  shall  sleep  no  more!  " 

Bessus  murdered  his  father,  and  years  afterward, 
when  no  suspicion  had  fastened  upon  him  as  the 
author  of  the  deed,  openly  confessed  the  crime, 
declaring  that  even  the  "  birds  were  constantly 
publishing  it:" 

"  Each  bush  doth  seem  an  officer." 

Both  ancient  and  contemporary  history  lead  us 
to  conclude  that  every  unhung  murderer  is  say- 
ing to  himself, 

"  My  conscience  has  a  thousand  tongues  ;  " 

for  many  have  voluntarily  confessed  their  guilt  by 
word  or  manner.  I  do  not  believe  that,  without  ex- 
ception, u  murder  will  out,"  but  the  existence  of  the 
proverb  speaks  significantly  to  our  point. 

Nor  are  murderers  the  only  ones  whom  conscience 
tortures.  Ilobbes,  the  skeptic,  though  as  brazen  as 
the  modern  infidel  when  in  public,  could  not  endure 
seclusion  ;  did  not  dare  to  remain  anywhere  in  the 
dark.  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  could  trample 
on    conscience    while    in    active    life,    but    in    the 


300  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

silence  of  his  own  room,  and  in  the  presence  of 
death,  was  constrained  to  give  it  voice  in  tlu 
words,  "  Remorse  !  Remorse  !  " 

We  also  find  genuine  satisfaction  in  the  certainty 
of  these  results  to  others,  and  rejoice  when  we  see 
the  noble  deeds  of  self-sacrificing  men  rewarded,  and 
the  iniquitous  deeds  of  base  and  selfish  men  punished. 
The  fact  that  a  thrill  of  satisfaction  runs  through 
every  soul  when  such  rewards  are  bestowed,  and  that 
history  records  numerous  instances  where  popular 
assemblies,  and  even  whole  communities,  have  been 
thrown  into  ecstasies  of  joy  over  such  bestowals,  adds 
strong  confirmation  to  the  proof  of  the  universality, 
and  infallibility,  of  this  divine  voice,  within  its  proper 
province. 

I  am  far  from  believing  that  "  vox  populi"  is  al- 
ways "  vox  del"  but  I  do  believe  that  if  we  can  as- 
certain what  has  through  all  human  history  been,  and 
now  is,  vox  humanitatis,  we  shall  not  seriously  err  in 
calling  it  the  voice  of  God.  I  cannot  pause  here  to 
quote  largely  from  history,  however  satisfactory  this 
might  be,  but  ask  the  reader  to  call  up  before  his 
mind  a  few  of  the  many  illustrations,  as  recorded  in 
Dean  Mil  man's  History  of  Lathi  Christianity, 
Guizot's  History  of  France,  or  Macaulay's  History 
of  England.  To  refresh  his  memory,  let  him  re-read 
a  chapter  here  and  there;  for  example,  Milman's  sixth 
of  volume  vii,  or  Macaulay's  eighth  of  volume  ii. 
And  yet,  it  matters  little  where  we  open  the  record, 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         307 

we  can  hardly  go  amiss  of  the  most  striking  confir- 
mations of  our  position. 

If  it  be  objected  that  all  these  histories  were  written 
by  Christians,  and  so  would  naturally  exalt  conscience, 
I  answer,  the  same  sort  of  illustrations  may  be  found 
in  abundance  in  Hume,  or  Gibbon,  or  even  Tacitus 
and  Herodotus. 

If  we  turn  from  the  perusal  of  history  and  ask 
what  prominent  men,  in  almost  every  walk  of  life, 
say  concerning  this  inner  voice,  which  Robert  Bur- 
ton calls  an  "  epitome  of  hell,"  while  Chatfield 
names  it  "heaven's  silent  oracle,"  we  shall  find 
them  all  bearing  concurrent  testimony  to  its  author- 
ity and  omnipresence. 

Cicero  says :  "  A  true  law  exists  permeating  all 
minds.  This  law  cannot  be  rendered  void  or  over- 
ruled ;  the  senate  cannot  free  us  from  it ;  the  jurist 
cannot  explain  it  away.  It  is  the  same  law  at  Eome 
and  at  Athens,  in  the  present  and  the  hereafter;  one 
law  unchangeable  and  forever."  * 

Daniel  Webster  says:  "There  is  no  evil  that  we 
cannot  either  face  or  fly  from  but  the  consciousness 
of  duty  disregarded.  A  sense  of  duty  pursues  us 
ever.  It  is  omnipresent,  like  the  deity.  If  we  take 
to  ourselves  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  dwell  in 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,  duty  performed  or  duty 
violated  is  still  with  us  for  our  happiness  or  misery. 
If  we  say  the  darkness  shall  cover  us,  in  the  darkness 

*  De  Rcpublica. 


308  Man  a  Bevelation  of  God. 

as  in  the  light  our  obligations  are  still  with  us.  We 
cannot  escape  their  power  nor  fly  from  their 
presence."  * 

The  quaint  and  vigorous  Carlyle  puts  the  same 
truth  in  few  words  in  Sartor  Eesartus :  "Love  God  ; 
this  is  the  everlasting  yea  in  which  all  contradiction 
is  solved,  and  in  which  whoso  walks  and  works,  it  is 
well  with  him." 

If  from  these  direct  testimonies  we  turn  to  those 
given  by  the  great  poets,  we  shall  find  them  equally 
significant.  Indeed,  these  gifted  spirits  seem  to  have 
looked,  at  times,  with  more  than  mortal  vision  upon 
this  "mirror  of  our  souls." 

The  weird  and  realistic  Dante  says : 

"  I  rein  and  curb 
The  powers  of  nature  in  me,  lest  they  run 
Where  Virtue  guides  not;  that  if  aught  of  good 
My  gentle  star,  or  something  better,  gave  me, 
I  envy  not  myself  the  precious  boon." 

— Inferno,  Canto  xxvi. 

Young  says : 

"  Already  is  begun  the  grand  assize 
In  tliee,  in  all:  deputed  conscience  scales 
The  dread  tribunal,  and  forestalls  our  doom ; 
Forestalls,  and,  by  forestalling,  proves  it  sure. 
Who  conscience  sent,  her  sentence  will  support, 
And  God  above  assert  that  God  in  man. 

—  The  Consolation,  lines  228-234. 


*  Works,  vol.  vi,  p.  105. 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         309 
Dryden  says  to  the  wicked  king : 

"  Amidst  your  train  this  unseen  judge  will  wait; 
Examine  how  you  came  by  all  your  state; 
Upbraid  your  impious  pomp,  and  in  your  ear 
Will  hollow,  Rebel !  traitor !  murderer  1 " 

We  turn  to  Byron,  a  man  who  would  hardly  be 
supposed  to  have  any  desire  to  exalt  the  voice  of  God 
speaking  within  man,  and  find  numerous  passages  in 
which  the  clearest  possible  testimony  is  given  to  the 
supremacy  of  conscience : 

"  "Whatever  creed  be  taught,  or  land  be  trod, 
Man's  conscience  is  the  oracle  of  God." 

"  I  thought  to  escape 
By  means  of  this  accursed  gold,  but  now 
I  dare  not  use  it,  show  it,  scarce  look  on  it. 
Methinks  it  wears  upon  its  face  my  guilt 
For  motto,  not  the  mintage  of  the  state  ; 
And,  for  the  sovereign's  head,  my  own  begirt 
With  hissing  snakes,  who  curl  around  my  temples 
And  cry  to  all  beholders,  Lo!  a  villain!  " 

—  Werner,  Act  iii,  Scene  1. 

We  turn  to  Shakespeare,  that  prince  among  the 
analyzers  of  human  nature,  the  man  who  has,  per- 
haps, unveiled  the  heart  in  a  manner  never  before 
equaled,  except  by  the  power  of  inspiration,  whose 
writings  are  acknowledged  to  be  among  the  foremost 
classics  of,  not  only  the  English  language,  but  of  all 
languages,  having  been  pronounced  supernatural  by 
some;  and  we  can  hardly  go  amiss  of  passages  in 
which  he  plainly  indicates   his  fullest  belief  in  the 


310  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

ever-present,  though    ofttimes    perverted,    power   of 
conscience. 

"  Every  man's  conscience  is  a  thousand  swords 
To  right  against  that  bloody  homicide.'' 

— Richard  III. 

"What  stronger  breastplate  than  a  heart  untainted? 
Thrice  is  he  armed  that  hath  his  quarrel  just, 
And  he  but  naked,  though  locked  up  in  steel, 
"Whose  conscience  with  injustice  is  corrupted." 

— Henry  VI. 

"  A  peace  above  all  earthly  dignities, 
A  still  and  quiet  conscience." 

—Henry  VIII. 

"The  worm  of  conscience  still  begnaw  thy  soul." 

-Richard  III. 

Some  of  the  most  striking  word-paintings  of  the 
power  of  an  unstultified  conscience,  and  alongside  of 
it  the  "seared  conscience  of  one  who  lias  chosen  to  call 
evil  her  good,  are  seen  in  "  Macbeth."  The  second 
scene  in  Act  ii,  immediately  following  the  commis- 
sion of  the  murder  by  Macbeth,  to  which  he  had 
been  urged  on  against"  his  will  by  Lady  Macbeth, 
is  perfectly  terrific  in  the  gleams  of  this  soul-hVht- 
ning,  and  the  sullen  thunder  of  oncoming  doom, 
and  I  would  advise  my  reader  to  pause  just  here 
and  peruse  it. 

If  we  turn  to  the  great  writers  of  fiction,  to  those 
whose  work  endures,  we  find  conscience  made  to 
speak  in  no  unmistakable  tones— cheering  oppressed 
innocence,  troubling  prosperous  knavery,  urging  on 


In  His  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         311 

toward  righteousness,  and  warning  all  men  of  a  judg- 
ment to  come.  I  say  that  \vTe  find  this  element  in 
the  work  which  endures,  and  am  inclined  to  think 
that  no  enduring  work  of  fiction  can  be  found  which 
does  not  exalt  the  dignity  and  power  of  conscience. 
I  have  not  had  the  time  to  examine  this  class  of 
writings  extensively  enough  to  pronounce  upon  the 
question  ex  cathedra  ;  but  the  few  which  I  have  read, 
such  as  The  Last  Days  of  Pompeii,  Ilypatia,  Les 
Miserables,  and  some  of  Dickens  and  Scott,  convince 
me  that  the  one  reason  above  all  others  why  the 
world  will  not  permit  such  works  of  fiction  to  die  is 
because  all  readers  see  some  phase  of  their  inner  con- 
sciousness mirrored  therein. 

Conscience  is  not,  then,  a  mere  ghost  trumped  up 
by  religious  teachers  to  awe  their  disciples  into 
deeper  reverence,  and  to  frighten  their  adversaries 
into  submission  or  flight,  but  is  an  entity  which  is 
acknowledged  every- where  and  by  all  classes.  In 
every  crisis  in  civil  affairs,  in  every  nation  under 
heaven,  of  which  history  gives  us  any  account,  from 
the  lowest  to  the  highest,  conscience  is  seen  standing 
out,  appealed  to  in  some  form.  Legislative  halls  and 
wigwam  council-fires,  Parliament  houses  and  clans- 
men's caves,  tell  the  same  story.  An  appeal  to  con- 
science is  the  final  appeal.  Perverted,  basely  per- 
verted often,  but  conscience  nevertheless.  Appeals 
to  conscience  have  dethroned  powerful  sovereigns, 
and  seated  mediocrity  on  the   throne.     Appeals  to 


312  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

conscience  have  stayed  the  rage  of  red-handed  vio- 
lence, and  have  murdered  the  innocent  children  of 
men's  own  households.  "  It*  the  light  that  is  in  thee 
be  darkness,  how  great  is  that  darkness  !  "  Conscience 
is  not  a  something  or  a  somewhat  which  metaphy- 
sicians have  created  by  some  process  of  ethical  evolu- 
tion, and  foisted  upon  the  world,  but  is  a  some  One 
existing  within  each  and  every  conscious  self. 

So  that  not  merely  the  preacher  must  recognize 
this  existence,  but  also  every  other  speaker  and 
writer.  No  lawyer  expects  to  move  a  jury  while  ignor- 
ing This.  No  politician,  however  base  his  real  mo- 
tives, dares  disregard  This.  No  poet  can  live  after  men 
call  him  "dead;"  no  character-painter  can  indelibly 
stamp  his  creations  on  the  mind  of  ages ;  no  historian 
can  do  more  than  pile  up  uames  and  dates,  unless  he 
write  in  glad  and  constant  recognition  of  this  Oracle 
within. 

If  all  this  be  true — and  who  will  venture  to  deny  ? — 
have  we  not  in  this  faculty,  so  universally  recognized, 
a  very  distinct  revelation  of  a  personal  God  ?  Mark, 
I  do  not  say  "demonstration,"  any  more  than  I  have 
in  previous  chapters,  for  this  I  do  not  undertake,  but 
"revelation,"  or  manifestation.  Does  not  the  indi- 
vidual come  face  to  face  with  that  clearly-reflected 
Image  of  which  we  are  told  in  the  book  which  we 
call  God's  written  word  ? 

I  have  been  strangely  impressed  while  reading 
Principal  Shairp's  Studies  in  Poetry  and  Philos- 


Ix  IIis  Will  and  Moral  Nature.         313 

ophy  with  the  following:  "That  which  reason  appre- 
hends, and  the  personal  will  bows  to,  as  an  authority 
superior  to  themselves,  cannot  be  a  mere  abstraction, 
but  something  which  is  congenerous  with  themselves. 
.  .  .  The  notion  of  God  seems  to  be,  as  Coleridge  has 
well  expressed  it,  essential  to  the  human  mind,  not 
derived  from  reasonings,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  act- 
ually called  forth  into  distinct  consciousness  mainly 
by  the  conscience." 

However  unavailing  my  own  arguments  may  have 
been  upon  the  reader,  I  am  quite  sure  he  cannot  miss 
the  force  of  this,  from  so  eminent  and  conservative 
a  writer. 

Another  author,  who  enforces  the  same  thought 
and  brings  out  my  ideal  thought,  that  of  a  face-to- 
face  view  of  God  in  the  conscience,  is  Newman.  In 
his  Grammar  of  Assent,  at  page  105,  he  says :  "  If, 
as  is  the  case,  we  feel  responsibility,  are  ashamed,  are 
frightened,  at  transgressing  the  voice  of  conscience, 
this  implies  that  there  is  One  to  whom  we  are  re- 
sponsible, before  whom  we  are  ashamed,  whose  claims 
upon  us  we  fear.  .  .  .  i  The  wicked  flees  when  no  one 
pursueth : '  then  why  does  he  flee  i  whence  his  ter- 
ror? Who  is  it  that  he  sees  in  solitude,  in  darkness, 
in  the  hidden  chambers  of  his  heart?  If  the  cause  of 
these  emotions  does  not  belong  to  this  visible  world, 
the  object  to  which  his  perception  is  directed  must 
be  supernatural  and  divine:  and  thus  the  phenomena 

of  conscience  as  a  dictate  avail  to  impress  the  imag- 
14 


314  Man  a  Revelation  of   God. 

ination  with  the  picture  of  a  supreme  governor,  a 
judge,  holy,  just,  powerful,  all-seeing,  retributive.'' 

No  more  forceful  putting  of  this  truth  is  possible, 
and  while  I  can  by  no  means  agree  with  the  learned 
doctor  in  all  the  positions  taken  in  this  remarkable 
book,  I  do  find  much  of  sturdy  truth  and  singular 
aptness  of  illustration  and  inference. 

I  close  this  chapter  with  a  painful  sense  of  the  in- 
adequacy of  language  to  express  the  deeper  mean- 
ings of  this  fathomless  subject,  and  with  a  still  more 
painful  sense  of  my  own  utter  inability  to  properly 
set  forth  the  marvelously  beautiful,  the  unspeakably 
cheering,  the  sublimely  grand  characteristics  of  man's 
moral  nature;  and  yet  I  close  it  with  a  humble  trust 
that  at  least  a  few  of  my  readers,  overlooking  the 
inadequacy  of  the  treatment,  may  obtain  some  new 
views  of  the  All-wise  Father  as  revealed  in  their 
moral  consciousness.  For  surely  it  is  the  privilege 
of  every  one  to  so  look  within  and  upward  as  to  see, 
even  though  it  be  ''  through  a  glass,  darkly,"  the  efful- 
gent Face.  Surely  it  is  the  privilege  of  every  one  to 
feel  the  touch  of  this  Omnipotent  Hand,  which  lifts 
up  all  who  will  be  lifted.  Surely  it  is  the  privilege 
of  every  one  to  consciously  expand  in  soul  as  he  gets 
a  fuller  view  of  God,  and  turns  his  face  a  little  more 
fully  toward  the  indwelling  Illuminator,  even  as  the 
flowers  expand  when  brought  fully  into  the  face  of 
the  natural  sun.  Surely  it  is  possible  for  every  one 
to  become  richer  in  all  Christian  graces,  mellower  of 


In  His  Will  akd  Mu:;al   Nature.         815 

heart  and  sweeter  of  spirit,  by  allowing  himself  to  be 
consciously  filled  and  consciously  controlled  by  a  pure 
conscience.  And  if  even  a  few  are  led,  by  the  read- 
ing of  this  chapter,  to  such  a  clearer  vision,  a  more 
conscious  touch,  a  more  abounding  "fullness  of  him 
that  filleth  all  in  all,"  I  shall  rest  satisfied  in  the  en- 
joyment of  not  merely  a  consciousness  of  duty  done, 
or  a  clear  conscience,  but  in  the  consciousness  of  the 
fullest  attainment  of  the  end  set  before  me  in  the 
beginning. 


11  Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the  works  of  thy  hands  ; 
thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet." — David. 

"  Life  beats  and  wears.     The  spirit  grows  apace, 
And  climbs  in  wonder  up  the  heights  of  God 
Ensphering  art  and  knowledge.  .  .  . 

All  his  energy, 
Fresh  as  the  blood-tides  in  an  infant's  life, 
Sweeps  on,  in  circles  strange,  eternally." 

— Hodgson. 

11  Man  is,  in  a  sense,  supernatural,  because  he  works  on  the  chain 
of  causes  and  effects  from  without  the  chain." — BushneU. 

"  It  is  the  supernatural  in  man  which  reveals  to  him  the  God  whom 
Nature  conceals." — Jacobi. 

"  He  is  harnessing  the  forces  of  nature  to  the  chariot  in  which 
shall  ride  the  Son  of  man  with  the  millennial  escort." — C.  B.  FisJc. 

"  Art  means  power ;  it  is  the  power  of  man's  soul  working  outward." 

— Longfellow. 

"Christianity  feels  herself  equal  to  the  task  of  conquering  the 
world." — Bishop  Simpson. 

"  Ideas  go  booming  through  the  world  louder  than  cannon. 
Thoughts  are  mightier  than  armies.  Principles  have  achieved  more 
victories  than  horsemen  and  chariots." — Faxton. 


In  His  Achievements.  31 


CHAPTER  VI. 
IN    HIS   ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Effect  implies  cause.  Results  evidence  power. 
Power  is  riot  self -creative.  Whatever  might  be  the 
decision  of  philosophy,  common  sense  must  always 
measure  power  by  its  products.  And  this  is  the  sci- 
entific as  well  as  the  practical  method.  All  genu- 
inely scientific  methods  are  practical.  Nothing  is 
more  helpful  to  any  phase  of  truth  than  to  be 
brought  to  a  practical  test.  We  desire  to  apply  this 
test  to  the  Revelation  of  God  in  Man. 

If  all  that  we  have  said  concerning  man's  physical 
structure  and  mental  characteristics  be  true,  historic 
results  should  abundantly  declare  its  truth.  Have 
man's  achievements  revealed  a  power  superior  to  that 
of  any  other  earthly  being  ?  Do  they  speak  of  endow- 
ments and  capacities  entirely  beyond  and  above  what 
we  can  consider  earth-born,  and  destined  to  return  to 
the  earth  ? 

One  can  imagine  the  objector  already  pointing  his 
pencil,  in  expectation  of  refuting  this  argument  be- 
cause it  proves  too  much,  since  the  achievements  of 
the  lower  animals  are,  in  many  instances,  more  won- 
derful than  those  of  man.  No  man  can  construct  a 
honey-comb  equal  to  that  made  by  the  bee,  or  a  web 


SiS  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

like  that  of  the  spider.  We  freely  grant  this,  and 
a  multitude  of  similar  superiorities  of  animal  instinct 
over  human  intelligence.  But  our  subject  is  Man. 
We  might  find  innumerable  evidences  of  Infinite 
Wisdom  in  the  lower  animals,  in  plant  life,  and  even 
in  inorganic  nature,  but  we  prefer  to  "stick  to  the 
text."  Revelations  of  God  in  the  lower  orders  of 
being  help  the  argument,  by  enhancing  his  glory  as 
revealed  in  man. 

Man  is  the  only  permanently  progressive  animal. 
He  only  continues  to  improve  on  all  that  is  handed 
down  to  him  from  previous  generations.  To-day  the 
bee  constructs  her  storehouse  just  as  ancestral  bees 
builded  their  hives  on  Mount  Hymettus  in  the  days 
of  Homer.  But  man  no  longer  depends  upon  the 
straw-thatched  granary.  In  its  stead  he  constructs  the 
modern  grain  elevator,  with  an  almost  fabulous  ca- 
pacity, its  gigantic  tongues  reaching  down  into  the 
ship's  hold,  and  gathering  and  rapidly  storing  away 
millions  of  bushels,  while  his  forefathers,  with  their 
limited  facilities,  would  have  exhausted  their  energies 
over  a  few  hundreds.  "  The  spider  taketh  hold  witli 
her  hands,  and  is  in  kings'  palaces."  So  wrote  King 
Solomon ;  and  the  busy  little  creature  he  watched 
doubtless  spun  a  web  quite  as  delicate  and  dainty  as 
the  diaphanous  net  which  was  yesterday  swung  in  the 
outer  sunshine  where  the  unwary  flies  love  to  hover, 
or  the  cozy  shelter  constructed  this  morning  in  some 
kitchen    corner,    beyond    the    reach    of   the   house- 


In  His  Achievements.  319 

wife's  broom.  But  man  has  left  far  behind  him  the 
primitive  wigwam  and  the  nomadic  tent,  and  to-day 
rears  a  dwelling  replete  with  appliances  for  comfort 
and  convenience.  "Solomon  in  all  his  glory  "  is  far 
outdone  by  the  average  householder  of  modern  days, 
into  whose  inner  chambers  are  conveyed  crystal 
waters  from  the  rural  hillside  ;  whose  home  in  winter 
glows  in  warmth,  in  summer  is  cooled  by  ices,  and  at 
midnight  is  made  brilliant  with  the  light  of  gas  or 
electricity  ;  who  eats  and  drinks  the  products  of  the 
antipodes,  and  clothes  himself  and  adorns  his  dwell- 
ing with  the  elegant  fabrics  of  every  land.  Were 
there  no  other  factor  than  that  of  Progression  in  the 
revelation  of  God  in  man's  achievements,  that  alone 
would  be  convincing  to  the  candid  mind,  for  it  indi- 
cates a  divine  endowment  for  expansion  and  self- 
culture  and  sovereignty  nowhere  else  discovered. 
The  Creator  seems  to  have  given  all  other  creatures 
their  entire  equipment  of  body  and  mind  at  the  out- 
set, even  at  the  birth  of  the  species,  while  to  man  he 
gave  a  divine  spark,  and  said,  "  Kindle  this  into  a 
flame  which  shall  light  you  through  the  universe." 
"Replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it,  and  have  do- 
minion over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of 
the  air,  and  over  every  living  thing  that  moveth  upon 
the  earth."  Go  forth,  O  man !  and  let  your  achieve- 
ments reveal  to  the  world  the  power  that  resides 
within  thee. 

How  has  man  fulfilled  this  commission  ?     No  sin- 


320  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

gle  chapter  could  be  made  to  give  a  full  aud  complete 
answer.     Volumes  would  be  required. 

The  mind  naturally  turns  first  to  man's  achieve- 
ments in  obedience  to  the  first  part  of  this  original 
commission,  and  what  is  generically  included  therein 
— "Replenish  the  earth,  and  subdue  it."  How  un- 
warranted is  the  assumption  of  infidelity,  that  God's 
word  is  opposed  to  science!  How  uncalled-for  the 
thrusts  aimed  at  science  in  the  name  of  religion  ! 
Here,  in  the  very  beginning,  the  Creator  himself 
commissions  the  first  man  and  all  his  descendants  to 
become  scientists.  Without  it  the  earth  could  not 
be  subdued.  Man's  dominion  is  not  yet  complete, 
though  rushing  rivers  have  been  harnessed  to  his  fac- 
tories, throbbing  steam  "  confined  at  hard  labor,"  and 
leaping  lightning  compelled  to  carry  his  messages. 
That  commission  enjoins  that  each  of  us  shall  know 
vastly  more  about  nature's  laws  than  Faraday,  Agas- 
siz,  or  Tyndall — more  than  all  the  philosophers  and 
experimenters  combined. 

No  Christian  can  wish  to  call  a  halt  in  man's 
achievements  in  the  physical  sciences  unless  he  lacks 
the  fundamental  faith  of  the  Christian  religion,  or 
has  become  wise  above  what  is  written ;  and  no 
physical  scientist  can  slur  or  stab  Christianity  un- 
less he  lacks  the  fundamental  moral  principles  of 
the  genuine  searcher  after  truth,  or  has  jumped 
at  conclusions  which  his  investigations  have  not 
touched.      It   is   against    these   baseless  conclusions 


In   His  Achievements.  321 

only,  that  objection  has  been  made  in  the  former 
chapters  of  this  volume.  The  writer  claims  every 
genuinely  scientific  man  as  a  fellow-worker,  and  wel- 
comes results  in  every  department  with  equal  cordial- 
ity. All  established  results  are  additional  revelations 
of  man's  divine  endowment. 

Medicine  and  Surgery. 

Attention  is  first  invited  to  man's  achievements  in 
Medicine  and  Surgery.  Since  these  have  to  do  with 
the  human  body,  they  are  most  intimately  associated 
with  our  general  subject. 

The  Creator,  apparently,  left  man  in  utter  igno- 
rance of  his  own  physical  nature.  Subject  to  disease 
and  accident,  he  must  himself  discover  what  medic- 
inal substances  would  prove  remedial,  and  what 
mechanical  appliances  would  assist  repair.  For  cent- 
uries he  made  little  advancement  in  these  directions. 
Only  a  few  simple  substances,  easily  obtained  from 
forest  and  field,  were  known  to  his  "  materia  med- 
ica,"  and  only  rude  and  inadequate  devices  were  used 
in  surgery.  At  the  beginning  of  authentic  history 
medical  art  and  science  were  yet  in  their  infancy; 
although  Homer  intimates  that  medicine  had  a  rec- 
ognized standing  among  the  professions,  and  surgery 
was  practiced  as  an  art. 

Those  old  heroes  of  the  Homeric  page,  witli 
which  (the  page)  so  many  students  have  strug- 
gled, are  described  as  practical  surgeons.  JSscula- 
14* 


3w2  Man  a  Revelation  of  Gud. 

pius,  the  Tliessalian  king,  was  probably  a  skillful 
physician  for  his  day.  But  down  to  the  time  of 
Hippocrates,  "  the  father  of  medicine,"  and  on 
through  the  years  to  Galen,  and  during  all  the  later 
centuries  until  the  seventeenth  of  Christianity,  little 
genuine  progress  was  made.  But  after  the  discovery 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  advancement  became 
substantial  and  rapid.  The  thousands  of  slow  years 
which  intervened  between  Homer's  hero-surgeons  and 
the  celebrated  Harvey  contrast  strangely  with  the 
quick  progress  made  in  the  two  centuries  since  that 
great  anatomist  made  his  discoverery. 

Since  the  advance  movement  became  fairly  inaugu- 
rated it  has  constantly  increased  in  rapidity.  This  has 
been  specially  manifest  during  the  last  fifty  years.  The 
modern  devices  for  prevention  of  disease,  saving  in- 
jured or  malformed  members,  and  preserving  life  by 
operations  heretofore  considered  utterly  impracticable, 
rank  among  the  greatest  achievements  of  man.  Al- 
most every  closed  cavity  of  the  body,  to  open  which 
would  once  have  been  considered  sure  death,  is  now 
fearlessly  entered  by  the  skilled  surgeon's  knife,  and 
diseased  growths  and  malformations  successfully  re- 
moved. He  who  must  soon  inevitably  tlie,  unless  he 
undergo  an  operation  so  frightful  that  he  instinctively 
prefers  death  to  the  involved  suffering,  is,  by  the  judi- 
cious use  of  benign  anaesthetics,  lulled  to  sleep,  and 
wakes  with  a  new  lease  of  life,  the  dreaded  ordeal 
having  been  passed  without  pain. 


In  His  Achievements.  323 

The  recorded  cases  in  conservative  surgery  read 
like  a  romance.  One  who  has  not  actually  witnessed 
some  of  the  results  can  with  difficulty  believe  the 
record.  The  joints  of  the  arms  and  legs,  even  to  the 
knee  and  hip  joints,  when  so  diseased  as  to  produce 
death  unless  removed,  are  now  excised,  and  the  limbs 
left  to  heal  and  sometimes  become  as  good  as  new. 
Compound  fractures,  which  a  few  years  ago  would 
have  necessitated  amputation,  are  now  so  treated  as 
to  save  the  injured  members.  Denuded  surfaces  so 
large  that  they  cannot  heal,  and  hence  must  lead 
to  suppuration  and  amputation  if  on  the  extremity, 
or  chronic  ulcers  if  on  the  trunk,  are  now  enabled  to 
heal  completely  by  the  transplantation  of  small 
patches  of  skin  from  other  parts  of  the  body.  In- 
stances of  these  excisions  and  transplantings  are  so 
numerous  and  so  astonishing  that  the  temptation  is 
great  to  describe  several  in  detail.  Some  have  come 
under  the  writer's  own  observation,  but  let  a  single 
ease  suffice.  A  few  years  ago,  a  boy  was  run  over 
l>v  a  street-car  and  the  skin  entirely  stripped  from 
the  back  part  of  his  leg.  Under  the  old  regime  am- 
putation would  have  been  promptly  performed. 
I  Jut  the  limb  was  not  amputated.  Several  patches 
of  skin  about  the  size  of  a  wheat  kernel  were  cut 
from  the  boy's  arm,  and  grafted  into  the  denuded 
surface,  and  the  wound  carefully  dressed.  These 
little  patches  adhered  and  in  a  few  days  began  to 
grow.    Each  became  a  new  center  of  expansion,  send- 


324  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

ing  out  delicate  tissue  to  meet  the  other  patches,  and 
all  together  to  close  with  the  approaching  borders. 
In  due  time  the  whole  surface  was  covered,  and  the 
boy  had  as  good  a  limb  as  ever. 

The  triumphs  of  preventive  medicine  and  surgery 
promise  to  become  as  remarkable  as  those  of  con- 
servative surgery.  Jenner's  discovery  of  vaccination 
as  a  preventive  of  small-pox  has  saved  millions  of 
lives  and  untold  suffering,  making  the  disease,  which 
was  formerly  the  most  dreaded  scourge  of  many  pop- 
ulous countries,  to  be  a  very  uncommon  visitant  at 
the  present  day.  Pasteur's  experiments  indicate  that 
before  long  similar  methods  may  rob  even  hydropho- 
bia of  its  terrors.  Certain  eminent  biologists  and 
physicians  from  England  were  recently  appointed  to 
make  a  searching  investigation  of  the  facts  in  con- 
nection with  the  distinguished  Frenchman's  experi- 
ments, and  their  official  report  indicates  that  success 
is  almost  certain.  Dr.  Freire,  a  celebrated  physician 
of  Brazil,  has  vaccinated  people  with  yellow  fever 
virus  as  a  preventive  of  that  awful  disease,  and  the 
success  thus  far  apparent  is  very  encouraging. 

These  are  but  a  few  meager  hints  at  the  great 
practical  achievements  in  medicine  and  surgery  : 
but  they  indicate  a  degree  of  attainment  little 
dreamed  of  a  century  ago,  and  a  rapidity  of  progress 
which  most  astonishes  those  who  have  observed  it 
most  closely.  The  difficulties  to  be  overcome  are 
so    peculiar    as    to    seem    almost     insurmountable  ; 


In  His  Achievements.  325 

hence   the   greater   significance   of    man's    triumphs 
in  this  department. 

Controlling  the  Elements. 

Having  briefly  considered  man's  achievements  in 
the  treatment  of  his  own  body,  we  will  next  inquire 
what  he  has  accomplished  among  the  elements.  And 
here  we  can  hardly  go  amiss  of  truly  wonderful  suc- 
cesses. We  live  in  an  age  of  experimentation. 
Nature  is  being  cross-questioned.  Forces  once  too 
powerful  for  the  grasp  of  man  are  now  obedient  to 
his  will.  In  the  early  ages  there  may  have  been  men 
who  possessed  some  such  power  over  the  elements  as 
we  possess  to-day.  The  "  lost  arts "  may  have  in- 
cluded much  of  what  we  now  enjoy.  If  so,  it  cannot 
but  help  our  argument.  But,  so  far  as  we  have  au- 
thentic information,  man's  control  of  nature  was,  until 
comparatively  recent  years,  limited  to  her  grosser 
elements.  The  swift-flowing  rivers  were  used  to 
carry  his  boats,  and  favorable  winds  taken  advantage 
of  to  push  his  ships  across  the  seas ;  but  in  ancient 
times  he  little  thought  that  a  small  quantity  of  vapor- 
ized water  could  be  made  to  drive  engines,  and  propel 
larger  ships  with  tenfold  greater  speed. 

We  have  no  authentic  record  of  the  use  of  steam  un- 
til about  the  sixteenth  century.  Not  until  within  the 
last  hundred  years  has  it  been  at  all  skillfully  handled. 
What  marvels  have  been  wrought  in  this  brief  time  ! 
Long  lines  of  sumptuous  dwell  ingsaredrawn  from  ocean 


326  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

to  ocean  witli  the  speed  of  a  storm ;  immense  floating 
palaces  are  propelled  against  wind  and  tide  from  con- 
tinent to  continent;  myriad-handed  printing  presses 
convert  the  earth  into  one  great  reading-room ;  and 
every-where,  from  mountain  summit  to  deepest  mine, 
are  felt  the  pulse-beats  of  the  modern  Hercules. 

Superior  to  all  man's  other  triumphs  over  the  ele- 
ments stands  his  husbanding  and  control  of  electric- 
ity. This  element  would  seem  too  subtle  to  be  caught, 
and  too  powerful  to  be  subdued,  having  been  caught; 
and  we  wonder  not  that  through  so  many  ages  of  the 
world's  history  the  "  forked  lightning  "  served  as  a 
symbol  for  what  was  most  terrible  in  mythology,  and 
the  synonym  of  all  that  was  mysterious  in  power. 
Resentful  Nature  struck  down  her  bold  investigators 
when  they  endeavored  to  bridle  this  mysterious  agent ; 
the  instruments  constructed  to  assist  in  its  capture 
she  demolished  in  the  using ;  and  seemed  to  say  with 
threatening  and  reiterated  emphasis,  "  Hands  off." 
But  Nature's  sovereign  could  not  brook  defeat;  and  ul- 
timately this  supposed  foe  to  man,  this  reckless  monster 
among  the  elements,  was  tamed  and  taught  to  speak. 
Encouraged  by  this  success,  the  work  was  pushed  with 
still  greater  vigor,  and  rich  indeed  have  been  the 
rewards. 

It  is  not  my  province  to  here  describe  apparatus 
or  give  the  details  of  experiments,  however  fascinat- 
ing they  may  appear,  but  simply  to  call  attention 
to  results.     But  I  cannot  refrain  from  giving  a   few 


t  L\   IIis  Achievements.  o-21 

biographic  facts  wliicli  furnish  a  most  gratifying 
manifestation  of  that  divine  element  in  man  which 
enables  him  to  triumph  over  obstacles.  The  man  to 
whom  the  world  must  ever  remain  indebted  for  the 
electric  telegraph  was  for  years  beset  by  the  most 
crushing  difficulties  and  disappointments.  The  fol- 
lowing published  letter,  written  in  -1841,  from  his 
hired  room  in  New  York,  where  he  lived  alone  and 
friendless,  tells  its  own  story  : 

"I  find  myself  without  sympathy  or  help  from 
any  associated  with  me.  For  nearly  two  years  I  have 
lived  on  a  mere  pittance,  and  denied  myself  even 
necessary  food,  that  I  might  have  money  enough  to 
put  my  telegraph  into  such  a  position  before  Con- 
gress as  to  insure  its  success.  I  am  crushed  for  want 
of  means.  No  one  knows  the  days  and  months  of 
anxiety  and  labor  I  have  had  in  perfecting  my  tele- 
graphic apparatus.  For  want  of  means  I  have  been 
compelled  to  labor  for  weeks,  making  with  my  own 
hands  what  could  have  been  made  much  better  in  a 
tenth  part  of  the  time  by  a  good  mechanician.  Noth- 
ing but  the  consciousness  that  I  have  an  invention 
which  is  to  mark  an  era  in  human  civilization,  and 
which  is  to  contribute  happiness  to  millions,  would 
have  sustained  me  through  my  trials  in  perfecting 
my  invention.  In  order  to  save  time  on  my  instru- 
ment, I  have  lived  in  my  studio,  preparing  my  own 
food,  which  I  carry  from  the  grocery  in  small  quan- 
tities in  the  evening.  Samuel  Morse." 


323  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

Amid  all  these  discouragements  he  persevered,  and 
finally,  just  a  few  minutes  before  the  close  of  a  pro- 
tracted session  of  the  Senate,  one  winter  night  in 
1843,  a  bill  was  passed  granting  aid  to  build  an  ex- 
perimental line  from  Baltimore  to  Washington.  The 
world  soon  knew  the  poor  inventor  then.  But  his 
success  did  not  puff  him  up.  The  first  message,  bear- 
ing date  of  May  24,  1844,  and  still  preserved  in  the 
archives  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  is, 
"  What  hath  God  wrought !  " 

Every  year  added  some  new  element  to  this  original 
triumph.  There  is  no  occasion  for  pausing  to  give  the 
details  of  how  dwellers  upon  Atlantic's  slope  became 
next-door  neighbors  to  those  on  the  I^acific  coast ;  and 
how,  ultimately,  people  of  different  nations  chatted 
together  each  morning  over  the  same  events  as  famil- 
iarly as  over  some  neighborhood  occurrence.  But,  as 
seekers  after  the  revelation  of  God  in  man,  we  record 
with  grateful  hearts  that  this  man,  who  lived  for 
nearly  twenty-eight  years  after  that  first  message  was 
sent,  and  received  the  highest  possible  honors  from 
all  sources,  retained  to  the  last  the  same  humble  trust 
in  God  which  sustained  him  in  his  dark  and  trying 
years  ;  so  that  when  a  statue  had  been  erected  to  his 
memory  in  Central  Park,  New  York,  and  at  its  un- 
veiling, in  the  summer  of  1871,  representatives  from 
this  and  other  lands  were  vying  with  one  another 
in  speaking  his  praises,  he  counted  it  his  crowning 
honor  to  acknowledge  Christ.     Taking  his    place  at 


In  His  Achievements.  329 

an  instrument  which  had  been  connected  with  all  the 
principal  wires  in  this  and  foreign  countries,  he  sent 
as  a  final  message,  "  Greeting  and  thanks  to  the 
telegraph  fraternity  throughout  the  world.  Glory  to 
God  in  the  highest ;  on  earth  peace,  good-will  toward 
men. — S.  F.  B.  Morse." 

But  great  as  were  the  achievements  of  these  years 
in  the  husbanding  and  use  of  magnetism  and  electric- 
ity, those  of  more  recent  years  far  surpass  them  all. 
Late  advances  in  telegraphy  alone  have  increased  its 
efficiency  fourfold.  Added  to  this  we  have  the  elec- 
tric light  converting  night  into  day,  and  the  various 
electro-motors  noiselessly,  yet  efficiently,  driving 
printing  presses,  running  elevators,  and  even  whirl- 
ing street-cars  along  as  if  by  magic;  besides  many 
other  less  conspicuous,  though  no  less  valuable,  oper- 
ations of  these  all-pervading  agents. 

In  all  these  so-called  practical  victories  of  mind 
over  the  elements  we  take  no  note  of  the  remarkable 
results  to  be  seen  in  the  various  scientific  instruments 
that  have  been  constructed,  without  which  many  of 
the  advances  in  other  departments  would  have  been 
impossible. 

We  would  pluck  no  leaf  from  the  laurel- wreath  of 
fame  which  so  rightfully  adorns  the  brow  of  Edison, 
and  others  of  the  world's  great  living  inventors,  but 
we  would  crown  with  equal  honor  those  earlier  investi- 
gators whose  achievements  made  theirs  possible.  J^o 
student  can  fully  comprehend  the  magnitude  of  these 


330  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

later  triumphs  until  he  studies  carefully  the  laborious 
processes  through  which  men  like  Sir  Humphry 
Davy,  Faraday,  and  others  passed  in  establishing 
fundamentals.  The  more  carefully  he  studies  them 
the  more  profoundly  will  he  become  impressed  with 
the  magnitude  of  man's  achievements. 

Living  in  this  year  of  grace  1888,  when  distance 
has  been  almost  annihilated  and  time  multiplied  ten 
thousand-fold  through  time-saving  instruments  for 
conveying  thought,  we  can  with  difficulty  imagine 
our  condition  without  them.  Hence  few  men  of  the 
present  day  stop  to  consider  what  their  older  brothers 
have  accomplished. 

The  Mechanic  Arts  and  Civil  Engineering. 

Equally  significant,  though  perhaps  not  as  startling, 
are  man's  triumphs  in  the  domain  of  what  may  be 
termed  the  mechanic  arts.  That  "  knowledge  is 
power"  has  long  been  accepted  as  a  fact,  but  no- 
where does  this  appear  so  literally  true  as  in  the  exhibi- 
tions of  superhuman  power  furnished  by  the  various 
appliances  that  human  ingenuity  has  devised.  Even 
the  ancients  must  have  possessed  much  knowledge  in 
order  to  have  accomplished  the  feats  of  lifting  and 
transportation  which  were  necessary  in  rearing  certain 
structures  that  still  remain  as  monuments  of  forgotten 
inventions.  But  when  we  consider  the  present  achieve- 
ments of  mechanical  and  engineering  skill  we  are 
absolutely  lost  in  the  contemplation  of  the  marvelous 


In  His  Achievements.  331 

works  which  have  been  wrought.  Not  content  with 
bridging  ordinary  rivers,  man  conceived  the  plan  of 
swinging  an  iron  highway  across  Niagara's  gorge,  and 
in  due  time  it  was  done;  and  long  trains,  bearing 
their  living  freight,  pass  to  and  fro  over  the  dizzy 
depths.  Then  other  and  grander  structures  of  a 
different  sort,  but  for  the  same  purpose,  were  con- 
ceived in  other  fertile  brains,  and  brought  forth  to 
span  the  "  Father  of  Waters,"  and  the  East  River 
at  New  York.  Who  that  has  stood  near  this  mighty 
mass  of  iron  and  steel,  and  watched  the  thronging 
multitudes  pass  to  and  fro,  and  reflected  upon  the 
fact  that  the  whole  structure  must  have  existed  in 
the  mind  of  one  man  before  the  first  stone  was  laid, 
or  the  first  wire  constructed,  has  not  mentally  ex- 
claimed, What  is  too  great  for  mortal  minds  to  attempt! 
And  when  one  takes  into  consideration  the  fact  that 
all  those  materials  were  once  in  the  rough,  most  of 
them  buried  in  the  earth,  and  lets  thought  dwell  upon 
the  varied  machinery  necessary  to  bring  them  out  of 
their  native  forms  into  the  present  state,  his  mind 
almost  grows  weary  in  the  contemplation. 

He  gazes  upon  the  flames  leaping  heavenward 
from  lofty  furnace  chimneys,  watches  the  streams  of 
molten  iron  as  they  flow  like  rivers  from  these  fiery 
sources,  sees  the  crude  iron  pass  through  the  process 
of  becoming  purified  and  hardened  into  steel  by 
means  of  one  of  the  most  useful  triumphs  of  man's 
genius,  listens  to  the  thud  of  forge  hammers  striking 


332  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

blows  equal  to  those  of  a  million  human  arms,  be- 
holds the  stubborn  iron  molded  at  man's  will,  and  the 
hardest  steel  sawn,  chiseled,  and  carved  like  wood, 
and  reflects  that  all  this  is  performed  by  machinery 
which  is  the  product  of  the  human  brain  ;  and  he 
says  within  himself,  Surely  here  is  dominion,  here  is 
power ! 

Again,  not  content  with  tunneling  mountains  to 
make  a  shorter  route  for  his  railway  trains,  and  cut- 
ting artificial  rivers  to  float  his  products  to  the  sea- 
board, he  sets  to  work  to  make  new  paths  even  for 
the  sea,  and  presently  his  ocea*n  vessels  go  steaming 
through  the  Suez  Canal,  and  the  fortunes  of  nations 
are  materially  changed  by  the  changed  system  of  inter- 
communication. The  true  dignity  of  such  a  work 
cannot  be  appreciated  without  a  careful  survey  of  the 
obstacles  to  be  overcome,  and  a  thorough  studv  of  the 
massive  machinery  brought  into  requisition. 

And  yet  these  achievements  in  engineering  and 
manufacture  are  no  greater,  intrinsically,  than 
those  which  pertain  to  the  less  ponderous  affairs 
of  life. 

All  the  way  from  the  poising  of  a  sewing-ma- 
chine needle  to  the  forging  of  a  propeller  shaft, 
from  the  making  of  an  electric  pen  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  modern  printing-press,  from  the 
pointing  of  a  pin  to  the  setting  of  a  Corliss  engine, 
are  seen  the  distinctive  marks  of  man's  imperial 
genius,    of   that   power    over    nature   which    distin- 


In   IIls  Achievements.  333 

guislies   him  from  all   other   mortal  existences,  aud 
reveals  the  divine  image  within. 

Astronomy. 

Man's  triumph  over  natural  obstacles,  his  control 
of  the  elements,  his  achievements  pertaining  to  the 
earth,  are  wonderful ;  but  those  pertaining  to  the 
myriads  of  worlds  about  us  are  vastly  more  so.  Un- 
satisfied with  "  subduing  the  earth,"  with  bringing 
into  captivity  the  forces  of  this  planet ;  not  content 
with  "replenishing  the  earth,"  with  devising  such 
implements  of  agriculture,  and  making  such  discov- 
eries in  chemistry,  as  to  increase  her  productiveness 
more  than  "thirty,"  or  "sixty,"  or  even  "a  hundred 
fold,"  he  has  been  constantly  reaching  out  into  wider 
fields.  It  is  in  the  department  of  astronomical  re- 
search that  the  sublimity  of  the  human  mind  most 
fully  appears.  Looking  intently  upward  he  seems  to 
catch  new  inspiration,  and  his  mind  more  clearly 
reflects  the  divine  mind. 

From  the  earliest  ages  the  study  of  the  heavens 
has  offered  rare  inducements  for  exalted  thought  and 
patient  investigation,  and  some  of  the  foremost  schol- 
ars of  every  period  of  the  world's  history  have  en- 
gaged therein.  For  many  years  results  were  un- 
satisfactory, and  the  best  astronomical  conclusions 
incorrect  and  often  quite  grotesque ;  yet  any  person 
who  will  read  the  records  of  even  those  earlier  years 
cannot   fail    to   see   the   majesty  of   minds   groping 


334  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

their  way,  unaided,  through  the  mysterious  fields  of 
infinite  space.  No  history,  not  even  that  of  the  "last 
decade"  in  science,  can  be  more  stimulating  and  re- 
freshing than  this ;  for,  as  Dr.  Robert  S.  Ball  says, 
the  story  "  leads  to  the  contemplation  of  the  might- 
iest efforts  of  nature  and  the  greatest  achievements 
of  human  genius."  * 

But  during  the  last  century,  and  especially  in  very 
recent  years,  advancement  in  this  department  has  been 
so  rapid  that  the  general  student  finds  serious  diffi- 
culty in  keeping  abreast  of  the  latest  discoveries.  As 
one  reads  such  volumes  as  those  of  Newcomb,  Clerke, 
and  Proctor,  and  the  various  articles  in  the  Reviews, 
he  finds  himself  querying  as  to  what  Galileo,  or  even 
Sir  John  Herschel,  would  have  thought  could  they 
have  had  the  spectroscope,  the  tasimeter,  and  the  in- 
stantaneous photographic  process  suddenly  revealed 
to  them.  And  even  yet  we  seem  to  be  only  on  the 
threshold  of  this  palace  of  scientific  marvels.  Well 
may  Miss  Clerke  say,  in  closing  an  extensive  history 
of  the  progress  of  this  science  during  the  nineteenth 
century,  which  tells  of  knowledge  already  obtained 
that  seems  almost  fabulous :  "  And  our  knowledge 
will  appear  the  merest  ignorance  to  those  who  come 
after  us.  Yet  it  is  not  to  be  despised,  since  by  it  we 
reach  up  groping  fingers  to  touch  the  hem  of  the 
garment  of  the  Most  High.f  " 

*  The  Story  of  the  Heavens,  p.  500. 

f  History  of  Astronomy  During  the  19th  Century,  p.  452. 


In  His  Achievements.  335 

It  was  not  a  small  triumph  when,  the  measuring- 
rod  of  mathematics  having  been  reached  out  into 
space,  the  distance  of  the  sun  from  us  and  from  our 
sister  planets  was  ascertained.  Kepler's  Laws,  those 
comprehensive  generalizations  which  now  seem  so 
simple,  were  no  ordinary  achievement  for  the  early 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  while  Newton's  law 
of  universal  gravitation  and  his  Principia  were  suf- 
ficient to  give  lasting  glory  to  the  later  years  of  the 
same  century. 

To  measure  the  velocity  of  light  was  a  perform- 
ance of  unmeasured  importance,  and  a  careful  study 
of  the  achievements  of  La  Grange  and  La  Place  in 
the  eighteenth  century  cannot  fail  to  impress  any 
mind  with  the  transcendent  powers  of  the  human 
intellect  when  once  fuliy  aroused  to  grapple  with 
great  problems.  But  recent  years  have  added  new 
luster  to  all  past  triumphs  by  revealing  other  and 
yet  grander  truths. 

Not  enough  for  the  all-comprehending  mind  of 
man  to  measure  celestial  distances  and  predict  eclipses 
to  a  minute,  centuries  in  advance;  to  describe  the 
orbits  of  blazing  comets,  and  weigh  the  sun  and  the 
entire  solar  system  in  a  balance;  to  construct  tele- 
scopes enabling  him  to  gaze  upon  myriads  of  worlds 
never  seen  by  the  naked  eye,  and  tell  the  distance  of 
stars  whose  light,  traveling  at  a  velocity  of  186,300 
miles  per  second,  has  required  thousands  of  years  to 
reach  the  earth ;  to  map  out  the  heavens  like  a  book, 


336  Max  a  Revelation  of  God. 

and  classify  and  give  names  to  myriads  of  worlds — 
not  enough  to  do  all  this,  and  much  else  that  was 
accomplished  before  the  last  two  decades.  Still 
grander  victories  must  be  won. 

Since  the  invention  of  the  spectroscope  we  are  not 
content  to  study  merely  the  movements  and  external 
aspect  of  sun  and  planets,  but  we  ask  to  know  their 
substance.  What  is  the  sun  made  of  ?  Has  he  upon 
his  surface  materials  similar  to  those  upon  the  earth? 
What  sort  of  an  atmosphere,  if  any,  envelopes  that 
fiery  orb  ?  What  sort  of  fuel  feeds  these  fires  which 
the  telescope  reveals,  leaping  up  from  his  surface? 
These  and  a  multitude  of  other  questions  have  been 
fur  years  seeking  answer,  with  no  apparent  prospect 
of  finding  it.  But  now  the  spectroscope  has  already 
answered  some  of  them,  and  gives  good  promise  for 
the  remainder. 

My  limited  space  will  not  permit  me  to  enter  upon  a 
description  of  spectrum  analysis,  nor  does  the  province 
of  this  book  call  for  it;  and  yet  I  hope  that  every  reader 
who  does  not  fully  understand  its  methods  will  obtain 
some  one  of  the  many  excellent  volumes  treating  spe- 
cially upon  this  subject,  and  give  it  a  thorough  reading. 

In  answer  to  the  question,  What  is  the  sun  made 
of  ?  the  spectroscope  says,  Of  substantially  the  same 
materials,  chemically  speaking,  as  the  earth:  iron, 
nickel,  sodium,  magnesium,  etc.  As  regards  its  at- 
mosphere, the  same  witness  says,  first  of  all,  that 
such  an  atmosphere  actually  exists,  and  then  informs 


In  His  Achievements.  337 

us  that  it  is  made  up  of  the  same  constituents,  and 
is  very  similar  to  what  would  be  the  atmosphere 
of  our  earth  were  her  temperature  raised  to  that  of 
the  sun  ;  and,  moreover,  that  that  atmosphere  has  its 
currents,  its  tornadoes,  its  cyclones,  its  storms  of 
every  sort,  the  same  as  the  earth's  atmosphere,  only 
much  more  violent. 

Concerning  the  fires  which  are  seen  leaping  up 
from  his  surface,  this  marvelous  register  of  flaming 
substances  millions  of  miles  away  says  they  are  im- 
mense volumes  of  hydrogen  gas  thrown  out  by  ter- 
rific explosions  on  the  surface,  or  bursting  forth  from 
some  immense  volcanic  crater. 

And  so  on,  for  numerous  other  questions,  we  re- 
ceive replies  that  are  always  at  least  plausible. 

Marvelous  indeed  are  the  discoveries  of  modern 
chemistry  as  applied  to  the  substances  found  upon 
the  earth,  substances  which  we  can  take  in  our  hands, 
and  subject  to  analysis  in  our  laboratories,  and,  by  so 
doing,  extort  their  secrets  from  them.  Truly  won- 
derful is  the  skill  which  can  detect  the  millionth  part 
of  a  grain  of  arsenic  in  solution,  and  by  analysis  of 
bodily  secretions  determine  the  exact  condition  of  the 
internal  organs ;  and  before  the  revelations  of  chem- 
istry in  this  department  alone  we  cannot  do  other- 
wise than  stand  in  grateful  astonishment;  but  how 
much  more  profound  the  amazement  when  we  con- 
template the  same  methods  extended  to  substances 

ninety  millions  of  miles  away  ! 
15 


338  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

I  have  arisen  from  the  reading  of  J.  Norman  Lock- 
yer's  Chemistry  of  the  Sun,  published  in  London,  1887, 
with  such  a  sense  of  the  grandeur  of  man's  achieve- 
ments, and  the  sublimity  of  the  human  mind  in  ac- 
tion, that  it  seems  utterly  incomprehensible  how  such 
achievements- can  be  contemplated  by  any  man,  and  his 
whole  intellect  not  be  convinced  of  supernatural  cre- 
ation, and  his  whole  soul  not  go  out  in  adoration  of  a 
supernatural  Creator. 

Nor  is  this  all.  For  twenty  years  the  spectro- 
scope has  been  answering  difficult  questions,  and 
adding  wondrously  to  man's  store  of  knowledge,  each 
year's  record  showing  an  increase  over  the  last ;  but 
only  yesterday  man's  fertile  genius  placed  in  the 
astronomer's  hands  a  new  instrument  of  marvelous 
power,  with  which  to  bring  out  of  the  very  remotest 
arcana  of  space  secrets  hitherto  unrevealed.  It  is 
a  simple  sensitive  plate  of  glass — the  photographer's 
"  instantaneous  plate  " — yet  what  a  field  does  it  unfold 
to  our  view  !  Even  on  the  earth  this  "instantaneous 
process1'  works  wonders.  The  eye  of  the  camera  is 
turned  upon  a  busy  street,  the  "cap"  is  lifted  for 
an  instant,  and  the  whole  scene  is  fixed,  and  can  be 
preserved  and  duplicated  at  pleasure  —  men  and 
women  walking,  children  frolicking,  horses  trotting, 
every  moving  thing  pictured,  true  to  the  life,  in  the 
exact  position  occupied  the  instant  that  sensitive  plate 
was  exposed.  Multitudes  of  anxious  faces  gazing  up 
at  some  imperiled  fireman,  or  other  multitudes  enthu- 


In  His  Achievements.  330 

siastically  cheering  a  noble  act,  are  by  this  process 
"caught,"  in  every  lineament  of  feature  and  mo- 
tion of  limb,  with  lightning-like  rapidity  ;  even  the 
lightning  flash  itself  has  repeatedly  been  photo- 
graphed hereby.  Moreover,  this  sensitive  plate  will 
diseern  the  exact  features  of  faces  and  objects  at  a 
distance  far  greater  than  the  eye  can  possibly  reach  ; 
so  that  where  a  person  looking  out  upon  a  crowd 
would  see  only  the  outlines  of  faces,  when  looking 
upon  the  picture,  obtained  in  the  hundredth  part  of  a 
second,  he  can  clearly  discern  individual  features. 

How  does  this  apply  to  astronomy?  Photograph- 
ing the  heavens  is  a  very  essential  part  of  the  astron- 
omer's work.  This  was  formerly  a  most  laborious 
process.  Special  telescopes,  and  special  machinery  to 
keep  them  moving  with  exactly  the  same  velocity  and 
direction  as  the  apparent  motion  of  the  heavens,  were 
necessary.  Even  then  but  slow  progress  could  be  made, 
for  this  ponderous  machinery  and  its  telescope  must 
be  directed  to  a  single  spot  for  a  long  time  in  order  to 
obtain  even  an  inferior  picture.     Now  all  is  changed. 

With  almost  the  rapidity  of  thought,  any  section  of 
the  heavens  can  be  photographed.  Furthermore,  by 
the  surprising  power  of  this  sensitive  plate  to  reach 
beyond  the  limits  of  human  vision,  when  we  allow  it 
the  nse  of  a  telescope  it  reaches  proportionately  far 
beyond  telescopic  vision,  and  brings  before  the  naked 
eye  an  exact  photograph  of  objects  too  distant  to 
have  ever  before  been  discovered.      By  this  means 


3^0  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

several  nebulae  and  stars  hitherto  unknown  have  been 
clearly  made  out.  Recently  a  nebulous  spot  near  the 
star  Maja  in  the  Pleiades  was  thus  discovered.  It 
proved  of  absorbing  interest,  and  has  been  several 
times  photographed,  establishing  its  existence  beyond 
all  controversy. 

It  would  seem,  indeed,  that  no  higher  achievement 
of  the  human  mind  could  be  possible  than  that  of 
placing  in  our  hand  a  photograph  of  a  world  so  far 
away  that  the  light  which  made  the  impression  upon 
the  sensitive  plate  must  needs  have  started  from  that 
distant  orb  thousands  of  years  before  man  ever  trod 
this  earth  ? 

But  more  than  even  this  is  now  being  accom- 
plished. Spectroscope  and  sensitive  plate  have  com- 
bined their  powers,  and  spectra  of  those  distant  suns 
we  call  stars  are  being  photographed  and  placed  on 
file  for  comparative  examination.  Thus  it  becomes 
possible  to  study  the  heavens  comprehensively  instead 
of  merely  piecemeal. 

A  recent  Astronomical  JReview,  October,  1887,  in- 
forms us  that  already  the  spectra  of  8,313  stars  of  the 
sixth  magnitude,  or  brighter,  have  been  measured  and 
catalogued.  How  all-comprehending  does  this  poor 
human  intellect  seem  to  become  as  we  contemplate 
its  achievements  in  such  a  sphere  as  this !  Astron- 
omy of  the  solar  system,  of  our  sun  and  his  retinue, 
of  our  moon  and  her  phases,  of  tides  and  seasons,  of 
eclipses   and   permutations?     Yes,    this   alone  were 


In  His  Achievements.  341 

indeed  valuable!  Astronomy  of  the  starry  heavens 
—of  constellations  and  nebulse,  of  other  solar  sys- 
tems and  double  suns?  Yes,  all  this  by  teles- 
copic aid  alone !  Astronomy  of  the  sun's  elements, 
constitu-ents  of  the  planets,  nature  of  solar  tor- 
nadoes and  inter-planetal  cyclones?  Yes,  all  these 
by  the  added  assistance  of  spectrum  analysis!  But 
now  we  look  upon  the  invisible,  we  behold  the 
unseen  universe,  we  have  an  astronomy  of  the  un- 
known regions  beyond,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear 
to  what  lengths  this  latest  triumph  of  human  genius 
will  carry  us.  When  we  consider  these  sublime  vic- 
tories already  achieved,  and  the  prophecies  of  sub- 
limer  triumphs  contained  herein,  we  marvel  not  that 
the  Psalmist,  imbued  with  an  exalted  sense  of  man's 
super-material  worth,  exclaimed,  "When  I  consider 
thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  lingers,  the  moon 
and  the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained;  what  is 
man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?  or  the  son  of 
man,  that  thou  visitest  him?" 

Geology. 

Achievements  equally  worthy,  if  not  as  inspiring 
or  sublime,  have  been  won  in  the  world  beneath  our 
feet.  While  telescopes  have  been  pointing  heaven- 
ward, and  mathematicians  have  been  weighing  the 
worlds  and  essaying  to  measure  infinite  space,  stu- 
dents with  pick-ax  and  hammer  have  been  turning 
up  and  breaking  in  pieces  the  flinty  rocks,  and  the 


342  Man  a  Bevelatiox  of  God. 

plummet  of  man's  insatiable  spirit  lias  been  falling 
deeper  and  deeper  into  the  secrets  of  an  apparently 
measureless  past. 

While  astronomers  have  been  reading  the  records 
of  sun  and  stars,  written  upon  spectroscopic  screen 
and  photographic  plate,  geologists  have  been  reading 
the  records  of  earth's  genesis  and  progress,  written, 
not  upon  a  sensitive  plate  of  glass,  but  upon  the  ada- 
mant— written  with  a  pen  which  moved  too  slowly  to 
make  mistakes,  and  preserved  under  an  unbroken  seal 
through  all  intervening  ages. 

Who  can  adequately  understand  the  triumphs  of 
mind  which  have  made  possible  such  volumes  as 
those  of  Dana,  and  of  a  score  of  other  masters  of  geol- 
ogy ?  What  though  there  have  been  errors  and  false 
hypotheses !  What  though  there  may  still  exist,  as 
there  doubtless  do,  great  mistakes  which  will  need  to 
be  corrected  !  These  detract  not  from  the  worth  of  the 
genuine  results  achieved.  Too  prone  are  we  to  think 
lightly,  or  at  least  superficially,  of  the  immeasurable 
difficulties  which  have  been  overcome  in  giving  to  all 
students  an  open  map  of  the  great  world  progress 
from  the  oldest  strata  up  to  the  latest-finished  carpet 
for  man's  dwelling-place.  Nothing  but  actual  expe- 
rience in  field  and  mine,  in  cave  and  gorge,  can  bring 
one  to  an  appreciation  of  the  perplexing  problems 
presented  by  tilted  and  broken  strata,  by  displaced 
and  widely  transposed  fossils,  and  ten  thousand  other 
disturbances  which  have  taken  place.     The  extent  to 


In  His  Achievements.  343 

which  these  have  heen  mastered  is  the  clearest  pos- 
sible indication  of  the  imeonquerableness  of  man's 
spirit  of  inquiry.  But  so  much  attention  has  already 
been  given  in  these  pages  to  the  teachings  of  geology 
that  nothing  further  need  be  offered  here. 

Geography  and  Discovery. 

Another  department  which  speaks  eloquently  of 
human  progress  is  that  of  geography  and  exploration. 
Man's  domain  was  originally  a  narrow  one.  His  knowl- 
edge extended  not  beyond  the  circumscribed  limits  of 
one  small  province ;  but  through  six  thousand  years 
lie  has  been  enlarging  his  field  of  observation. 

The  discovery  of  a  continent  may  not  seem  a 
very  great  achievement  to  the  present  generation, 
with  our  modern  vessels  and  present  knowledge  of 
navigation ;  but  contemplate  the  same  before  the 
days  of  steamships  and  the  mariner's  compass,  and  it 
rises  to  a  sublime  endeavor,  and,  when  accomplished, 
deserves  to  be  recorded  as  one  of  the  very  foremost. 
Man's  recent  triumphs  in  this  direction,  although 
Livingstone  and  Stanley  have  made  their  names  im- 
mortal hereby,  are  not  as  remarkable  in  the  line  of 
« 

great  discoveries  as  in  an  accurate  and  intelligent  map- 
ping out  and  description  of  both  old  and  new  regions. 
By  means  of  these  the  average  school-boy  may  have 
a  more  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  various 
countries  of  the  earth  than  could  be  gained  from 
many  years  of  travel  unaided  by  maps. 


3±±  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

If  to  this  we  add  his  achievements  in  the  depart- 
ment of  physical  geography,  the  view  is  greatly  ex- 
panded. Not  merely  the  one  fourth  of  the  earth's 
surface  which  is  above  water  has  been  explored,  but 
the  three  fourths  which  are  under  water,  involving 
some  of  the  most  difficult  undertakings  ever  essayed 
by  man.  Oceanic  mountains,  deep  sea  plains,  and 
mighty  ocean  rivers,  all  have  come  under  man's 
survey. 

"  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  it  is  true,  and 
yet,  while  mystery  still  remains  concerning  our  at- 
mosphere and  its  movements,  much  is  known  and 
more  is  constantly  becoming  known. 

Joining  hands  with  every  branch  of  material  science, 
physical  geography  grapples  with  all  problems  per- 
taining to  the  composition,  varying  density,  temper- 
ature, and  moisture  of  the  atmosphere;  considers  the 
marvelous  power  which  carries  about  over  the  earth 
millions  upon  millions  of  tons  of  water,  drank  up  in  in- 
visible vapor  from  sea  and  land,  distributing  it  in  rain- 
fall here  and  now  and  in  snow-storms  at  some  other  time 
and  place ;  unravels  the  intricate  maze  of  the  prevailing 
currents,  and  in  some  measure  accounts  for  the  ever- 
varying  climatic  conditions ;  and  even  places  prophetic 
watchmen  upon  the  high  towers  of  earth,  who,  hav- 
ing seized  upon  elements  from  earth  and  atmosphere, 
signal  to  their  fellows,  thousands  of  miles  in  advance, 
the  approach  of  storm  or  calm,  of  intense  heat  or 
bitter  cold. 


In  His  Achievements.  3J:5 

In  a  word,  man's  achievements  in  this  department 
not  only  bring  before  us  the  surface  of  our  globe  in 
detail,  but  throw  upon  the  canvas,  for  our  study,  a 
complete  outline  of  this  old  world  in  action  ;  all  the 
mighty  cosmic  forces  working  and  interworking  in 
earth,  and  sea,  and  atmosphere,  in  belching  volcano 
•And  rumbling  earthquake,  in  gulf  streams  and  polar 
currents,  in  gentle  sea-breezes  and  terrific  cyclones — a 
living,  luminous,  earth-embracing  organism,  compre- 
hending all  lesser  material  organisms. 

Botany  and  Zoology. 

As  he  pushes  on  with  his  achievements,  he  is  not 
content  with  these  general  results  of  discovery  and 
physical  geography;  he  desires  to  have  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  all  plant  and  animal  life.  Hence 
he  has  built  up  the  present  accurate  and  comprehen- 
sive sciences  of  botany  and  zoology,  with  their  kin- 
dred branches. 

We  are  told  that  "  Adam  gave  names  to  all  cattle, 
and  to  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  beast  of  the 
Held."  In  more  recent  years  this  naming  has  been 
carried  to  such  an  extent  that,  not  merely  to  these 
conspicuous  factors  in  the  whole  of  animal  life  have 
names  been  given,  but  even  to  the  smaller,  the  insig- 
nificant creatures,  down  to  the  very  insects  too  minute 
to  be  seen  by  the  unaided  eye.  Moreover,  all  these 
have  been  classified.  This  has  been  so  well  done  that 
any  specimen  of  animal  life  yet  discovered,  from  the 
15* 


3-tO  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

elephant  to  the  invisible  animalcule  which  lives  and 
thrives  mj>ure{f)  water,  is  readily  assigned  to  its  ap- 
propriate species  and  its  characteristics  clearly  defined. 
When  we  consider  the  thousands  of  different  species, 
and  the  tens  of  thousands  of  different  families,  some 
conception  of  the  magnitude  of  this  achievement  is 
obtained. 

It  is  recorded  as  a  mark  of  the  exceeding  great 
wisdom  of  Solomon,  that  he  "  spake  of  trees,  from  the 
cedar  tree  that  is  in  Lebanon  even  unto  the  hyssop 
that  springeth  out  of  the  wall."  In  this  line  of  study 
the  wise  man  has  had  many  noble  successors.  As 
should  always  be  the  case,  these  have  made  good  use 
of  past  knowledge,  and  advanced  greatly  upon  past 
attainments.  Not  only  from  the  mightiest  growth, 
symbolized  very  fitly  by  the  Lebanon  cedar,  clown  to 
the  humblest  hyssop,  but  even  to  the  poor  little  lichen 
which  cannot  be  seen  without  a  microscope,  has  all 
plant-life  been  given  a  name  ;  and  not  merely  given  a 
name,  but  an  examination  of  plant-growth  and  all 
plant  elements  has  been  instituted,  the  anatomical 
structure  carefully  made  out,  and  the  physiological 
functions  systematically  analyzed. 

Such  pioneers  as  Cgesalpinus  and  Ray,  such  pro- 
gressive geniuses  as  De  Candolle  and  Liniueus,  and 
such  masters  as  Humboldt  and  Gray,  counted  it 
enough  of  distinction  to  be  known  as  botanists.  And 
well  they  might;  for,  although  in  some  minds  there 
may   exist    the   impression    that   botany    is   merely   a 


In  His  Achievements.  347 

sort  of  school-girl  pastime  among  grasses  and  flowers, 
nevertheless  it  is  one  of  the  most  comprehensive  and 
wide-reaching  departments  of  study  known  to  natural 
science,  and,  withal,  one  of  the  most  useful.  A  per 
son  needs  only  to  spend  a  few  days  among  some  one 
of  the  great  collections  of  natural  history  to  become 
convinced  of  this. 

It  has  been  the  writer's  privilege,  in  connection 
with  his  work  upon  this  volume,  to  visit  the  Botanical 
and  Zoological  Gardens  in  San  Francisco,  and  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington,  and  the  inspi- 
ration of  those  days  of  observation  and  study  has  not 
yet  departed.  There  is,  in  these  two  places  alone, 
enough  to  astonish  and  bewilder  anv  unskilled  ob- 
server,  unless  he  has  the  assistance  of  a  well-informed 
guide  and  takes  an  abundance  of  time.  And  these 
are  only  two  of  the  many  natural  history  monuments 
to  man's  power. 

History  and  Language. 

Leaving,  now,  these  somewhat  material  achieve- 
ments, although  but  very  inadequately  noticed,  the 
great  triumphs  in  physics  having  been  scarcely 
touched  upon,  I  invite  attention  to  the  written  and 
printed  monuments  commemorative  of  the  men  and 
events  of  years  gone  by.  Ever  since  the  dawn  of 
civilization  men  have  been  accustomed  to  make  som  \ 
record  of  their  actions.  For  many  centuries  these 
records  were  extremely  meager,  and.  with  few  excep- 


^4:6  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

tions,  very  crude.  Still  they  were  history.  As  civiliza- 
tion advanced  better  facilities  were  had,  and  they  were 
constantly  enlarged  and  improved.  Finally,  with  the 
invention  of  the  printing-press,  there  was  no  longer  any 
occasion  for  incompleteness,  and  every  event  of  any 
consequence  found  recognition  on  the  printed  page. 

Consider  for  one  moment  what  an  almost  in- 
finite mass  of  information  this  comprehends.  Con- 
sider how,  during  the  last  hundred  years,  many 
ancient  lands  have  been  ransacked  from  sea-coast  or 
river-front  to  mountain-top  and  farthest  inland  town; 
nay,  even  the  long-buried  cities  being  unburied,  and 
the  time  sealed  tombs  unsealed,  in  the  eager  quest  for 
historic  facts.  Consider  the  great  expeditions  which 
have  been  fitted  out,  under  the  patronage  and  protec- 
tion of  the  wealthiest,  most  powerful  nations,  for  the 
simple  purpose  of  interrogating  the  past.  Consider 
with  what  almost  superhuman  mastery  of  learning 
numerous  ancient  dialects  have  been  ''picked  out" 
from  a  few  words  on  a  broken  slab  here,  and  a  few 
sentences  on  an  unearthed  pillar  there,  until  they 
have  been  assigned  a  place  among  the  great  families 
of  human  speech,  and  been  traced  back  to  a  common 
origin.  Consider  the  consummate  genius  which  has 
discovered  a  key  to,  or  perhaps  we  should  say  the  un- 
paralleled perseverance  which  has  wrought  out  a  solu- 
tion of,  the  ancient  hieroglyphics,  and  given  us,  as 
voices  from  the  dead,  a  story  of  what  formerly  seemed 
a  history  forever  sealed. 


In  His  Achievements.  3±9 

Consider  all  these,  and  when,  by  these  considerations, 
you  have  arrived  at  some  feeble  conception  of  the 
all-comprehending  grasp  of  human  achievements  in 
this  realm  of  the  past,  justmake  a  week's  visit  to  the  Yon 
Eanke  library,  or  some  other  great  storehouse  of  his- 
tory, and  have  this  feeble  conception  mightily 
strengthened.  Spend  the  whole  week  in  the  midst  of 
those  marvels  of  historic  wealth,  simply  reading  title- 
pages  and  taking  an  occasional  glance  within,  as  some- 
thing specially  significant  meets  your  eye,  and  there 
will  remain  no  further  occasion  for  words  from  my 
pen  to  impress  you  with  the  genuine  grandeur  of 
man's   achievements    in    philological    and    historical 

research. 

The  Fine  Arts. 

But  the  divinity  within  man  could  not  be  limited 
to  even  spoken  language  for  conveying  thought,  or  to 
the  printed  page  for  recording  his  triumphs.  He 
would  throw  upon  the  canvas  a  whole  volume  of  liv- 
ing, glowing  thought,  which  should  speak  through  the 
eye  to  the  sonl  of  man  in  burning  words  of  resplen- 
dent beauty.  He  would  epitomize  the  events  of  the 
most  important  eras  in  history,  or  sum  up  the  most 
world-encompassing  prophecies,  and  on  some  cathe- 
dral window,  public  hall,  or  chapel  ceiling  lay  them, 
as  a  whole,  upon  the  mind  and  heart  of  all  beholders. 
Kesults  may  be  seen  in  the  paintings  by  Orcagna,  in 
the  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa  ;  the  Four  Greater  Proph- 
ets, by  Signol,  in  the  Church  of  St.  Snlpice  in  Paris  ; 


350  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

"The  Epitome  of  the  History  of  Civilization,"  by 
Cornelius,  in  the  colonnade  of  the  Museum  of  Berlin  ; 
the  series  of  biblical  paintings  in  the  windows  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Milan,  and  in  many  other  places. 

He  would  breathe  the  spirit  of  his  grandest  inspi- 
rations into  the  pulseless  marble,  until  every  line 
should  become  a  voice,  every  curve  a  soul-tilled  feat- 
ure, and  the  whole  an  embodiment  of  all  that  is 
beautiful  in  art,  sublime  in  spirit,  and  immortal  in 
human  destiny. 

He  would  gather  up  all  forms  of  utility  and  beauty, 
of  permanence  and  grace,  of  sublimity  and  modesty, 
and,  combining  them  in  one  grand  whole,  would  erect 
them  into  some  house  of  worship,  civic  edifice,  or 
private  dwelling,  as  a  significant  embodiment  of  mind 
in  matter,  of  art  in  architecture. 

To  what  extent  these  desires  of  the  human  mind 
have  been  realized,  how  fully  these  conceptions  have 
become  actual  achievements,  may  be  readily  inferred 
by  almost  any  general  student,  but  can  be  fully  com- 
prehended by  only  the  favored  few  who,  with  senses 
all  alert,  have  been  permitted  to  travel  among  the  Old 
World  treasures  of  art,  and  have  their  souls  enkindled 
at  the  ancient  altars. 

Enough  can,  however,  be  learned  by  all  of  us  from 
copies  and  descriptions  of  the  old  masters,  and  from 
what  is  being  accomplished  in  our  own  land  at  the 
present  time,  to  convince  us  of  the  grandeur  of  man's 
achievements  in  these  and  other  lines  which  minister 


In  His  Achievements.  351 

to  the  soul  through  the  eye.  The  worthiest  advance- 
ment of  recent  years  has  been  in  the  direction  of 
bringing  the  treasures  of  art  within  the  reach  of  men  of 
modest  means.  The  most  surprising  triumphs  have 
been  won  in  the  art  of  rapid  production.  Events  of 
the  most  stirring  interest  which  took  place  but  yester- 
day are  depicted,  true  to  the  life,  and  to-day  scattered 
like  the  leaves  of  the  forest.  (What  though  the  abil- 
ity to  do  this  is  seized  upon  for  purposes  of  evil ;  this 
does  not  lessen  its  intrinsic  dignity.)  Surprising  as  it 
may  seem,  future  historians  will  not  be  content  to 
merely  describe  in  words  the  great  civic  or  military 
events  of  the  world,  but,  by  the  instantaneous  proc- 
ess in  photography,  every  phase  and  feature  of 
man's  assembled  activity  will  doubtless  be  shown  as  a 
whole. 

Furthermore,  man  cannot  be  limited  to  even  these 
modes  of  conveying  thought.  Catching  echoes  from 
the  universal  harmonies  of  sound  in  nature  about  him, 
his  soul  begins  to  well  forth  in  song.  Conceptions 
too  lofty  for  ordinary  speech  find  voice  in  oratorios 
which  seem  to  re-echo  the  oratorios  of  the  skies. 
Thoughts  too  spiritual  for  common  words  take  to 
themselves  the  wings  of  melody,  and  go  floating 
away  toward  the  skies,  carrying  the  soul  upward, 
almost  within  the  gates  of  everlasting  song.  To 
assist  him  in  giving  expression  to  these  exalted  emo- 
tions, he  calls  in  the  aid  of  his  inventive  genius,  and 
lo!    organ    pipe,   and    viol    string,   sweet-toned    flute 


o52  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

and  piano  wire  take  up  the  soul-born  harmonies,  and 
help  to  waft  them  on. 

Few  departments  of  human  effort  deserve  to  rank 
higher  than  this,  or  serve  to  reveal  man's  heaven- 
born  qualities  more  clearly. 

If  we  ask  for  utility,  it  is  here.  Into  what  phase 
of  human  experience  does  it  not  enter  ?  Where  has 
it  not  proved  a  solace  in  sorrow,  an  inspiration  in  dis- 
couragement, an  invigorator  in  weakness  ?  How  has  it 
ennobled  the  character  of  individuals  and  of  nations ! 

If  we  ask  for  beauty,  it  is  here.  What  more  fully 
answers  to  every  criterion  of  "  the  beautiful "  than 
the  fundamental  harmonies  ?  What  ministers  more 
perfectly  to  the  aesthetic  nature  than  the  exquisite 
blendings  of  philosophy  and  sentiment  in  the  sym- 
phonies of  Haydn  and  Beethoven  ?  How  have  the 
coarsest  natures  been  subdued  and  harmonized  by  its 
gentle  ministries ! 

If  we  ask  for  power,  it  is  here.  What  more  potent 
than  the  rallying  song  of  a  nation  rung  out  by  pat- 
riot voices,  and  re-enforced  by  martial  music  ?  What 
added  legions  in  the  Marsellaise  hymn  !  What  "  re- 
serves" in  the  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic! 

And  all  this  is  but  the  most  meaner  hint  of  man's 
achievements  in  this  field.  The  cheering  advances  of 
recent  years  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  music  is  only 
in  its  infancy  ;  yet,  so  extensive  has  its  domain  be- 
come, and  so  far-reaching  are  the  generalizations  of 
pure  mathematics  which   have   been  applied  thereto, 


In  His  Achievements.  353 

that  to  be  a  master  of  music  at  the  present  day  means 
scholarship  of  a  very  superior  order. 

Poetry. 

Kindred  to  music  and  painting  is  poetry.  The 
genius  which  in  one  soul  sees  the  imperishable  fac- 
tors of  some  world  -  crisis  and  sets  the  deft  fingers 
to  throwing  it  upon  the  canvas,  in  a  kindred  soul, 
seeing  the  same  imperishable  factors,  sets  the  swift- 
winged  pen  to  writing  them  out  in  Homeric  grand- 
eur or  Shakespearean  drama.  The  same  divine  affla- 
tus which  out  of  one  soul  breathes  upon  the  cold 
marble,  making  it  live  and  speak  in  mute  though  elo- 
quent language,  from  another  soul  breathes  forth 
Miltonic  imagery  or  lyric  verse. 

The  world's  great  poets  have  spoken  a  varied  lan- 
guage; as  varied  as  the  world's  great  thoughts.  In 
these  diverse  forms  these  great  thoughts,  born  to  live 
forever,  have  been  enshrined.  By  common  consent 
the  poet  is  crowned  king  among  authors.  To  him  is 
accorded  a  higher  order  of  talent  than  to  the  writer 
of  prose.  I  am  speaking  now  of  poetry,  of  that  living, 
glowing,  soul-quickening  speech  which  every-where 
bears  the  stamp  of  royal  birth;  not  of  the  pulseless, 
machine-made  rhymes,  destitute  of  both  sense  and 
soul,  which  are  sometimes  labeled  "  poems." 

So  universal  is  this  lofty  estimate  that  no  honor  is 
more  highly  prized  by  any  nation  than  that  of  having 
been  the  birthplace  of  some  great  poet.     Greece,  the 


354  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

cradle-land  of  oratory  and  art,  the  mother  of  warriors 
and  statesmen,  points  with  commendable  pride  to  her 
illustrious  sons  in  all  these  spheres  of  activity,  but 
chiefly  does  she  glory  in  the  fame  of  her  blind  old 
bard,  whose  name  is  a  household  word  wherever  liter- 
ature sheds  her  beneficent  rays. 

Roman  history  records  many  brilliant  achievements 
in  field  and  forum,  but  no  page  is  quite  as  luminous 
as  that  which  bears  the  name  of  a  Virgil  or  a  Horace. 
Such  creations  of  men's  mind  live,  though  nations 
perish  and  even  languages  die. 

The  Parthenon  may  become  a  heap  of  ruins,  but 
the  Iliad  never  shows  signs  of  decay.  The  proudest 
monuments  and  palaces  of  the  Eternal  City  may 
crumble  into  dust,  and  all  the  glory  of  military 
achievements  fade  away,  but  the  JSneid  grows 
fresher  as  the  centuries  are  numbered,  and  goes  on 
stimulating  the  thought  of  new  millions  of  students. 
Verily,  even  one  such  creation  were  sufficient  to 
declare  mind  immortal.  Immortality  cannot  have 
been  earth-born.  And,  although  there  has  been  only 
one  Homer,  there  have  been  many  Homeric  minds ; 
while  we  have  but  one  jEneid,  we  have  many  imper- 
ishable monuments  to  human  greatness  constructed 
of  the  same  material.  So  vast  are  the  stores  of  wealth 
which  have  been  produced  by  poetic  minds  and  treas- 
ured up  in  poetic  form,  that  one  finds  great  difficulty 
in  choosing  illustrations.  For  all  genuine  poets  are 
one  in  the  deeper  characteristics  of  their  natures. 


In  His  Achievements.  355 

As  Watts  says :  "  The  moment  the  poetic  mood  is 
upon  a  man  all  the  trappings  of  the  world  with  which 
for  years  he  may  perhaps  have  been  clothing  his  soul, 
the  world's  knowingness,  its  cynicism,  its  self-seeking, 
its  ambition,  fall  away,  and  the  man  becomes  an  in- 
spired child  again,  with  ears  attuned  to  nothing  but 
the  whispers  of  those  spirits  from  the  Golden  Age, 
who,  according  to  Ilesiod,  haunt  and  bless  the  degen- 
erate earth." 

Nor  is  this  overdrawn.  No  genuine  poetry  is  pos- 
sible until  the  whole  soul  is  fused,  is  raised  to  a  glow- 
ing heat  which  actually  incorporates  the  subject  with 
itself;  until  the  man  becomes  oblivious  to  self,  for 
the  time,  in  the  pure  vision  of  some  great  theme. 

As  one  of  them  has  said  : 

"  I  started  once,  or  seemed  to  start,  in  pain, 
Resolved  on  noble  things,  and  strove  to  speak, 

As  when  a  great  thought  strikes  along  the  brain, 
And  Mushes  all  the  cheek." 

The  reader's  attention  will  be  invited  merely  to  a 
few  of  these  genuine  poets ;  for  a  few  examples  will 
serve  the  purpose  of  the  argument  as  well  as  many. 
Foremost  among  all  we  would  place  the  poetry  of 
the  Bible,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  opponents 
might  object  that  the  achievements  of  men  directly 
inspired  of  God  were  being  instanced  as  proofs  of 
man's  own  power;  for  while  the  psalms  of  David,  the 
wails  of  Job,  and  the  visions  of  Isaiah  may  not  pos- 
sess all  the  elements  of  formal  accuracy,  they  do  pos- 


356  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

sess  all  the  elements  of  poetry  in  its  sublimest  aspects. 
Next  to  these  stand  the  creations  of  William  Shakes- 
peare. Many  volumes  have  been  written  describing 
and  endeavoring  to  analyze  them,  and  yet  their  per- 
ennial fountains  are  ever  re  veal  in£  some  new  meaning. 
Here,  in  these  productions  of  a  single  mind,  we  have 
history,  biography,  philosophy,  and  morals  epitomized 
and  focused  in  such  a  manner  that  human  character 
in  action  stands  revealed  to  our  gaze  as  nowhere  else, 
save  in  the  volume  of  God's  own  composing. 

The  plummet  of  his  genius  seems  to  have  gone 
down  into  the  nethermost  regions  of  human  conscious- 
ness. The  vision  of  his  great  soul  seems  to  have  pen- 
etrated the  secrets  of  all  other  souls.  He  reveals 
men  to  themselves  in  their  darkest,  most  soul-destroying 
aspects,  and  in  their  brightest,  most  soul-enriching  ex- 
periences. He  sets  furies  black  from  hades  dancing 
about  the  hell  of  an  outraged  conscience,  and  angels 
fresh  from  paradise  flitting  through  the  heaven  of  a 
pure  and  noble  character.  He  paints  with  inkiest 
hue  the  loathsome,  leprous  countenance  of  domestic 
infidelity,  and  with  most  beauteous  tints  the  shining 
face  of  filial  love  and  home's  blest  harmonies.  He 
shows  how  nations  prosper  when  the  manly  man  bears 
rule,  and  how  the  mightiest  armies  are  powerless 
when  treachery  and  love  of  self  are  on  the  throne. 

This  William  Shakespeare  was  only  a  man  !  Who 
will  say  that  his  achievements  do  not  reveal  a  super- 
natural Creator  ? 


In  His  Achievements.  357 

Milton  is  another  of  these  commanding  geniuses 
who  have  become  the  world's  benefactors.  His 
errors  in  science  or  theology  do  not  detract  from  the 
intrinsic  worth  of  his  "Paradise  Lost"  as  a  triumph 
of  the  human  intellect. 

Byron,  notwithstanding  his  laxity  of  morals,  has 
left  the  plainest  possible  evidences  of  the  mind's  ex- 
alted dignity  in  «  Childe  Harold  "  and  "  The  Prisoner 
of  Chillon,"  as  may  be  seen  in  the  following: 

"  Eternal  spirit  of  the  chainless  mind  ! 
Brightest  in  dungeons,  Liberty  !  thou  art, 
For  there  thy  habitation  is  the  heart — 
The  heart  which  love  of  thee  alone  can  bind." 

Longfellow  and  Bryant  are  names  which  every 
American  treasures  with  even  a  sacred  reverence, 
because  of  the  inherent  nobleness  and  worth  of  their 
writings. 

But  I  must  refrain  from  further  illustrations,  ex- 
cept to  ask  the  reader,  by  way  of  gaining  some  con- 
ception of  the  extent  and  value  of  human  effort  in 
this  department,  to  contemplate  the  magnitude  of  the 
loss  which  would  be  involved  in  the  destruction  of 
all  our  treasures  of  poetry.  Then,  consider  the  con- 
ditions had  there  never  been  a  Shakespeare  or  a  Mil- 
ton, a  Cowper  or  a  Longfellow ;  had  Mrs.  Browning 
never  sung,  or  Jean  Ingelow  never  breathed  forth 
her  soul-inspiring  stanzas ;  had  Wesley's  muse  been 
silent  and  Newton's  hymns  remained  unwritten  ;  had 
Whittier  never  sent  forth  his  "Voices  of  Freedom," 


35S  Mx\n  a  Revelation  of  God. 

and  all  the  other  divinely  inspired  souls  of  measured 
speech  uttered  themselves  only  in  prose.  Consider- 
ing the  measureless  void  which  would  have  existed 
had  such  been  our  lot,  perhaps,  even  with  this  very 
cursory  glance  at  poetry  and  poets,  some  adequate 
conception  may  be  formed  of  the  really  exalted 
and  revelatory  character  of  man's  achievements  as 
therein  exhibited. 

Mental  and  Moral  Science. 

One  other  department  of  human  effort  must  be 
briefly  examined. 

Consider  the  systems  of  mental  and  moral  science 
which  have  been  elaborated  by  men.  Even  atheistic 
philosophy  itself,  while  endeavoring  to  read  God  out 
of  the  universe,  has,  by  its  shrewdness  in  the  putting 
of  a  poor  case,  exhibited  with  greater  clearness  the 
original  presence  and  power  of  God  in  the  creation  of 
the  reasoner's  mind.  Any  thing  approaching  to  a 
complete  survey  of  man's  achievements  which  might 
be  included  under  the  term  mental  philosophy  would 
require  several  ordinary  volumes  instead  of  a  few 
pages.  A  large  share  of  the  world's  best  thought  has 
been  devoted  to  an  analysis  of  thought.  The  most 
vigorous  minds  of  every  age  have  turned  inward,  and 
studied  the  mind  itself.  As  Cousin  says,  "  Turn  your 
attention  to  history,  that  living  image  of  thought  : 
every-where  you  perceive  religions  and  philosophies."* 

*  History  of  Philosophy,  vol.  i,  p.  302. 


In  His  Achievements.  3f9 

Amid  problems  so  vast  and  full  of  difficulties  er- 
rors in  fundamental  conceptions  and  untenable  con- 
clusions are  but  natural  ;  but,  while  they  detract  from 
the  utility  and  satisfactoriness  of  our  accomplish- 
ments, they  do  not  invalidate  their  claims  to  a  place 
of  rare  distinction.  We  are  quite  too  ready  to  depre- 
ciate the  work  done  by  the  ancient  philosophers  and 
mediaeval  scholastics  because  of  such  errors.  Pioneers 
in  mental  philosophy  should  not  he  held  to  severer 
tests  than  pioneers  in  physical  science. 

When  we  study  the  writings  of  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle, and  remember  the  circumstances  of  the  time, 
we  cannot  but  rank  them  with  man's  noblest  achieve- 
ments. Plato's  conception  of  what  philosophy  was, 
"  the  desire  of  the  knowledge  of  eternal  existences," 
and  Aristotle's  terse  definition,  "  the  knowledge  of 
truth,"  show  their  fundamental  perceptions  of  the 
great  domain  they  were  entering.  Clement  says  that 
"  Plato  touched  the  very  gates  of  truth."  Coleridge 
declares  that  he  was  :'  a  plank  from  the  wreck  of  Par- 
adise cast  upon  the  shores  of  idolatrous  Greece." 
And  although  these  expressions  may  seem  to  many 
rather  overdrawn,  I  am  quite  sure  that  they  will  not 
so  appear  to  those  who  have  read  the  Phcedo  and  the 
Republic.  Nor  were  theirs  the  earliest  achieve- 
ments in  philosophy.  The  contributions  of  Socrates 
alone,  to  say  nothing  of  Xenophanes,  Zeno,  Anax- 
agoras,  and  others  who  preceded  him,  were  sufficient 
to  mark  an  era  in  human  history. 


360  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

Aristotle  tells  us  there  are  two  things  of  which 
Socrates  must  justly  be  regarded  as  the  author — "  the 
inductive  reasoning  and  abstract  definition."*  No 
man  has  a  better  right  to  speak  concerning  this  than 
his  illustrious  follower.  But  if  he  is  not  the  father 
of  the  inductive  method  his  immediate  pupil  is,  for 
Bacon  himself  says,  after  discoursing  upon  the  re- 
quirements of  this  method,  "  Up  to  this  time  this  has 
not  been  done,  nor  even  attempted,  except  by  Plato 
alone,  who,  in  order  to  attain  his  definitions  and  ideas, 
has  used  to  a  certain  extent  the  method  of  in- 
duction." f 

Full  of  interest  would  be  an  examination  of  the 
achievements  of  the  long  line  of  ancient  philosophers 
in  Greece  and  other  nations,  but  the  great  works  of 
even  the  modern  philosophers  are  too  numerous  to 
permit  more  than  the  bare  mention  of  a  few.  Tow- 
ering like  mountain  peaks  above  the  general  range 
we  see  Bacon's  Instauratio  Magna,  Descartes'  Prin- 
cipia  Philosophies,  Spinoza's  Ethics,  Locke's  Essay  on 
the  Hitman  Understanding,  and  Leibnitz's  Theodicee, 
any  one  of  which  is  sufficient  to  make  an  age  or  na- 
tion illustrious,  and  certify  man's  "patent  of  nobility." 

I  am,  of  course,  neither  indorsing  nor  condemning 
these  systems  just  now,  but  simply  calling  attention 
to  them  as  exhibitions  of  the  triumphs  of  thought. 
Among  the  productions   of   more   recent   times  we 

*  Aristotle's  Metaphysics,  vol.  xii,  p.  359. 
f  Novum  Organum,  vol.  i,  p.  105. 


In  His  Achievements.  361 

turn  with  profound  admiration  to  the  works  of  Clarke, 
Kant,  Fichte,  Reid,  Stewart,  Hegel,  Schelling,  Brown, 
Hamilton,  Ulrici,  Calderwood,  Lotze,  and  others,  and 
especially  to  the  immortal  works  of  certain  Ameri- 
cans which  a  fear  of  unjust  discrimination  restrains 
me  from  naming. 

The  writings  of  Ulrici  and  Lotze,  in  particular, 
have  profoundly  impressed  me  with  their  marvelous 
fullness,  and,  in  some  passages,  with  their  almost  in- 
spired skill  in  unfolding  what  seem  to  be  funda- 
mental truths. 

An  exposition  of  their  systems  is  not  possible  here, 
but  the  reader  can  catch  a  glimpse  thereof  from  their 
own  words  in  regard  to  the  purpose  of  certain  of  their 
works.  Lotze,  after  having  traversed  much  of  the 
broad  domain  of  philosophy  in  his  Metaphysics, 
Pathology,  and  Physiology,  and  having  attained  to 
great  ripeness  of  scholarship,  proceeded  to  the  writ- 
ing of  Microcosmus.  He  modestly  calls  it  an  "  at- 
tempt at  an  anthropology  which  should  seek  to  inves- 
tigate and  ascertain  the  entire  significance  of  human 
existence  from  the  combined  consideration  of  the 
phenomena  of  individual  life  and  of  the  history  of  the 
civilization  of  our  race."  And  I  am  quite  sure  that 
those  who  have  read  it  will  agree  with  me  that  the 
attempt,  though  so  far-reaching,  was  at  least  measur- 
ably successful.  Ulrici,  in  his  work  Gott  und  der 
Memch,   declares  an    equally  sublime    purpose,  and 

accomplishes  it  with  equal  vigor  and  success. 
16 


3G2  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

But  it  is  not  possible  to  give  here  any  adequate 
view  of  man's  achievements  in  mental  and  moral 
science,  and  those  who  desire  to  traverse  its  entire 
domain  should  carefully  study  some  one  of  the  many 
excellent  histories  of  philosophy.  Perhaps  the  most 
available  is .  Ueberweg's,  in  two  volumes,  the  first 
being  devoted  to  ancient  and  mediaeval  philosophy, 
and  the  second  to  modern  philosophy.  There  may 
be  others  as  good,  but  this  is  my  choice — influenced, 
perhaps,  by  that  prevailing  tendency  of  human  nature 
which  leads  to  the  recommendation  of  whatever  tools 
the  user  happens  to  own,  or  know  most  about. 

Whoever  will  carefully  read  these  "meaty"  volumes 
will  rise  from  their  perusal  with  such  a  conception  of 
the  breadth  and  depth  of  human  knowledge,  with  such 
a  profound  conviction  of  the  almost  infinite  grasp  of 
the  human  intellect,  and,  withal,  with  such  a  sense  of 
man's  ultimate  dependence  upon  an  Infinite  Mind, 
as  he  never  before  had.  No  matter  how  deep  may 
have  been  his  previous  study  of  individual  philoso- 
phers, either  of  ancient  or  modern  times,  such  study 
will  only  broaden  his  conception  of  the  vast  wealth 
of  thought,  as  it  lies  revealed  in  such  a  comprehen- 
sive survey  of  the  field  as  a  whole.  He  wTill  become 
still  more  inclined  to  sympathize  with,  if  he  does  not 
agree  with,  Hamilton,  that  "  mental  philosophy  com- 
prehends all  the  sublimest  objects  of  our  theoretical 
and  moral  interest,  that  every  (natural)  conclusion 
concerning  God,  the  soul,  the  present  worth  and  the 


In  His  Achievements.  363 

future  destiny  of  man,  is  exclusively  deduced  from 
the  philosophy  of  mind." 

There  are  many  other  departments  of  human 
effort  in  which  man's  deeds  reveal  the  divinity  of 
his  nature.  Indeed,  it  may  seem  to  my  readers  that 
I  have  omitted  from  our  rapid  survey  precisely  those 
achievements  to  which  a  Christian  minister  would 
naturally  turn  first:  the  triumphs  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ;  the  measure  to  which  the  Master's  injunction 
to  "  disciple  all  nations "  has  been  obejTed ;  the  un- 
precedented activit}'-  of  the  Christian  Church  at  the 
present  day ;  the  wonderful  development  of  human- 
itarian schemes  under  the  influence  of  vital  piety  ; 
the  multiplication  of  asylums,  and  hospitals,  and 
" homes;"  the  enactment  of  just  laws;  the  settle- 
ment of  international  differences  by  arbitration ;  the 
moral  victories  over  the  tyranny  of  intoxication — 
that  arch-fiend  of  modern  civilization— and  many 
others.  But  these  have  been  omitted  with  a  pur- 
pose. If,  without  their  consideration,  we  have  had 
our  thought  fully  occupied,  and  have  been  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  divine  element  in  human  deeds,  how 
overwhelming  must  be  that  impression  when  the 
whole  is  considered  !  Let  the  reader  add  to  the  few 
cursory  glimpses  afforded  in  this  chapter  a  complete 
view  of  man's  achievements,  and  he  will,  doubtless, 
gladly  admit  that  man  is  a  co-worker  with  God, 
''thinking  God's  thoughts  after  him,"  and  putting 
those  thoughts  into  monumental  deeds. 


"  Man  has  wondrous  impulses  toward  futurity,  which  betoken  his 
destiny  to  another  clime.  In  earnest  communion  with  ourselves  we 
become  conscious  of  our  own  eternity." — Alger. 

"  The  Pagan  kissing,  for  the  step  of  Pan, 
The  wild  goat's  hoof-print  on  the  loamy  down, 
Exceeds  our  modern  thinker,  who  turns  back 
The  strata,  granite,  limestone,  coal  and  clay — 
Concluding  coldly  with,  '  Here's  law  I     Where's  God?  '  " 

— Browning. 

"  The  thoughts,  the  aspirations,  and  all  the  energies  of  immortal 
beings,  ought,  assuredly,  to  bear  the  impress  of  immortality." — Styles. 

"  Virtue  alone  stays  by  him  at  the  tomb 

And  bears  him  through  the  dreary,  trackless  gloom." 

— Code  of  Manu. 

"I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life." — Christ. 

"Man's  best  powers  point  him  Godward. — Spurgeon." 

"  Here  all  our  countless  actions  touch  the  strings 
That  send  a  thrill  throughout  infinity, 
On  earth  our  erring  fingers  strike  the  keys 
That  shall  resound  in  endless  cadences 
Of  harmony  or  discord  evermore." — Taylor. 


In  His  Aspirations.  365 


CHAPTER    VII. 
IN  HIS  ASPIRATIONS. 

Water  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  source.  A 
man's  ideal  may  be  safely  taken  as  a  just  measure  of 
himself.  Thus  may  national  ideals  measure  nations, 
and  race  ideals  the  human  race.  Out  of  the  heart  are 
the  "  issues  of  life."  Desires  reveal  the  heart  as  ac- 
tions do  not  and  can  not.  Man's  environment  from 
childhood  to  old  age  restrains  some  and  hinders 
others.  Circumstances  give  to  the  outer  life  an  ele- 
ment of  untrueness. 

The  study  of  desires  is  beset  with  special  difficulties 
because  no  man  can  actually  look  into  another  man's 
heart.  Still,  we  may  always  depend  upon  certain 
great  trends  in  human  nature,  even  as  in  geology,  no 
matter  how  irregularly  some  faculties  may  be  tilted, 
or  how  greatly  they  may  be  displaced  u\  certain  souls. 
If,  then,  it  shall  be  shown  that  there  are  in  the  human 
soul  aspirations  which  rise  above  all  mere  animal  de- 
sires and  passions,  above  all  that  is  of  the  earth,  such 
showing  will  reveal  a  source  above  any  thing  that 
is  earthly.  If,  in  addition,  it  shall  be  shown  that 
there  are  also  aspirations  which  rise  above  all  that 
man  has  ever  achieved,  and  even  above  that   which 


366  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

is  known  to  be  the  utmost  limit  of  possibility  in  this 
life,  such  showing  will  constitute  a  clearer  revelation 
of  his  God  likeness  than  we  have  been  able  to  find 
even  in  his  vast  achievements. 

Aspirations  after  Knowledge. 

Mind  is  never  satisfied  with  present  attainments. 
It  is  ever  reaching  out,  grasping  after  what  lies  just 
beyond.  The  larger  its  present  grasp  the  more 
eager  its  outreachings  after  more. 

This  has  been  characteristic  of  all  men,  both  an- 
cient and  modern,  of  whom  we  have  any  knowledge. 
The  language  of  N.  P.  Willis's  dying  alchemist  is  the 
language  of  every  aroused  soul : 

"I  would  know  something  here! 
Break  for  me  but  one  seal  that  is  unbroken ! 
Speak  for  me  but  one  word  that  is  unspoken !  " 

Then,  after  the  "one  seal"  is  broken,  others  still 
unbroken  are  revealed,  and  the  soul-thirst,  quenchless 
as  the  immortality  which  gives  it  birth,  is  only  in- 
creased by  what  promised  to  satisfy.  I  am  speaking 
now  of  the  soul's  longings  after  truth  for  truth's  own 
sake.  The  strictly  utilitarian  search  after  knowledge 
is  a  sort  of  selfish  search  ;  and,  of  necessity,  a  grop- 
ing, partially  blinded  search.  Even  in  those  branches 
of  science  which  have  most  to  do  with  the  com- 
mercial phases  of  life,  the  investigators  who  have 
made  the  greatest   advancement   have   been  men   in 


In  His  Aspirations.  307 

love  with  their  respective  departments,  rather  than 
in  love  with  the  gold  which  should  come  from  suc- 
cess. The  gates  of  neither  earthly  nor  heavenly 
knowledge  swing  wide  at  the  mercenary's  approach. 
This  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  those  who  say  that 
man's  thirst  for  knowledge  is,  after  all,  only  a  crav- 
ing to  gratify  his  animal  desires. 

All  history  teaches  us  that  mind-hunger  is  of  the 
very  essence  of  man's  being. 

In  the  early  ages  men,  eager  to  know  the  truth 
concerning  the  jeweled  canopy  swung  out  each  night 
above  their  heads,  summoned  all  their  skill  to  con- 
struct instruments  which  should  afford  them  a  fuller 
view. 

In  the  present  age  man,  standing  in  full  view  of 
worlds  whose  light  has  been  thousands  of  years  in 
reaching  our  earth,  and  chemically  analyzing  them, 
still  sighs  to  catch  glimpses  of  the  vaster  worlds 
which  he  believes  to  lie  yet  out  of  sight,  and  declares 
that  he  is  only  just  across  the  threshold  of  astronom- 
ical discovery. 

The  s;nne  v^^ov  search,  and  the  same  increasing- 
desire  to  know,  are  seen  in  the  microscopic  world. 
Having  perfected  his  instruments  to  such  an  extent, 
as  to  be  able  to  distinguish  infusorial  animals,  mill- 
ions of  which  make  up  a  bulk  no  larger  than  a  errain 
of  sand,  he  is  now  studying  their  anatomy,  and  en- 
deavoring to  ascertain  the  methods  of  their  life- 
processes. 


3&3  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

Having  obtained  such  a  mastery  over  the  ele- 
ments that,  were  it  possible  for  the  foremost  man 
of  science  of  Bacon's  time  to  step  into  a  modern  city 
of  the  present  day,  with  no  information  having  been 
obtained  beyond  that  with  which  he  left  the  world 
two  hundred  years  ago,  he  would  listen  with  amaze- 
ment to  the  clicking  of  our  telegraph  instruments  and 
the  conversation  through  our  telephones,  and  be 
utterly  bewildered  with  the  sight  of  our  snorting 
locomotives,  our  invisibly  propelled  street-cars,  our 
electric  lights,  our  sidereal  photographs,  our  solar 
spectra,  and  a  thousand  other  marvels;  and  yet,  no 
doubt,  he  would  soon  unite  with  his  nineteenth-century 
brothers  in  seeking  after  some  new  truth. 

It  is  this  eager  desire  for  knowledge  that  has  given 
us  all  these  advantages,  and  lifted  man  so  far  above 
the  obstacles  which  once  impeded  his  progress.  Per- 
haps the  fact  above  all  others  which  marks  this  thirst 
for  knowledge  as  God-implanted  is,  that  age  or  bodily 
affliction  does  not  diminish  it. 

All  mere  animal  desires  decay  with  the  wasting 
physical  strength.  Not  so  the  soul's  aspirations  after 
knowledge.  These  not  only  do  not  decay,  but  con- 
tinue to  increase  with  the  multiplying  years;  so  that, 
as  long  as  reason  holds  her  seat,  the  aged  student  con- 
tinues his  researches  with  the  utmost  zeal.  The  eye 
may  grow  dim,  and  the  ear  dull  of  hearing,  but  the 
fires  of  soul-desire  burn  more  brightly  than  ever,  and 
the  marvelous  harmonies  of  nature's  unfolding  proc- 


In  His  Aspirations.  3f>9 

esses  sound  more  divinely  sweet  than  in  his  earlier 
years. 

Confirmations  of  the  truth  of  these  statements  are 
every-where  to  be  found.  Eminent  scientists  bending 
over  their  experiments  after  "second  sight"  has  come 
to  the  long-used  eyes,  or  climbing  the  observatory  stairs 
on  a  winter  night  with  enfeebled  step,  or  pushing 
on  into  the  heart  of  an  unexplored  continent  with 
the  last  remaining  physical  strength,  and  profound 
scholars  of  more  than  "three-score  and  ten"  continu- 
ing to  give  to  the  world  philosophical  treatises  full  of 
freshness  and  far-reaching  suggestiveness— all  con- 
cur in  declaring  that  the  desire  for  knowledge  is  not 
earth-born. 

This  unwasting  desire  for  knowledge  is  also  a  reve- 
lation of  God  in  man,  because  it  points  to  immortal- 
ity. The  whole  universe  teaches  us  that  for  every 
real  want  a  supply  is  somewhere  provided.  This  is 
peculiarly  manifest  in  the  functions  of  the  bodily  or- 
gans of  both  man  and  the  lower  orders.  Light  for 
the  eye,  sound  for  the  ear,  food  for  the  palate— 
every  provision  complete!  every  legitimate  desire 
gratified !  How,  then,  can  we  conceive  of  a  God  so 
inconsistent  as  to  have  made  such  perfect  provision 
for  mere  animal  desires,  and  to  have  left  the  greater 
desires  of  the  mind  to  be  forever  unsatisfied  ? 

Why  these  high  ideals  in  man?  Why  the  insatia- 
ble desire  for  perfection  ?  Whence  came  they,  if  not 
from  a  Source  higher  than  himself  \     And  were  they 


10* 


370  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

given  merely  to  mock  him  ?  All  nature  forbids  the 
thought !  Reason  says,  "  ISTo !  a  thousand  times  no  !  " 
The  following  words  of  Addison  are  a  good  illustra- 
tion of  this  ardent  desire  for  knowledge,  and  belief  in 
eternal  progression : 

"  There  is  not,  in  my  opinion,  a  more  pleasing  and 
triumphant  consideration  in  religion  than  this  of  the 
perpetual  progress  which  the  soul  makes  toward  the 
perfection  of  its  nature,  without  ever  arriving  at  a 
period  in  it.  To  look  upon  the  soul  as  going  on 
from  strength  to  strength ;  to  consider  that  she  is  to 
shine  forever  with  new  accessions  of  glory,  and 
brighten  to  all  eternity,  that  she  will  be  still  adding 
virtue  to  virtue,  and  knowledge  to  knowledge,  carries 
in  it  something  wonderfully  agreeable  to  that  ambi- 
tion which  is  natural  to  the  mind  of  man.  With 
what  astonishment  and  veneration  may  we  look  into 
our  own  souls,  where  there  are  such  hidden  stores  of 
virtue  and  knowledge,  such  inexhaustible  sources  of 
perfection ! "  * 

Many  other  aspirations  of  the  human  soul  clearly 
reveal  our  supernatural  origin  and  destiny,  partic- 
ularly the  desire  for  power  and  the  desire  for  en- 
during fame.  These  should  all  receive  extended 
notice,  but  I  have  already  so  nearly  reached  the  limits 
prescribed  for  this  volume  that  they  must  be  entirely 
omitted,  and  the  remaining  pages  of  this  chapter  be 
devoted  to  a  brief  consideration  of 

*  Spectator,  vol.  ii. 


In  His  Aspirations.  371 

Aspirations  after  Immortality. 

The  objector  may  here  affirm  that  man's  desire 
for  immortality  is  the  result  of  religions  teach- 
ings, instead  of  an  inborn  principle,  and  hence 
does  not  afford  any  argument  for  his  likeness  to  the 
Divine. 

Although  this  objection  is  entirely  futile,  it  has 
been  so  persistently  urged  that  it  becomes  necessary  to 
show  that  this  desire  for  immortality  is  not  the  result 
of  Christian  education,  but  is  inherent  in  the  human 
soul.  For  this  purpose  I  invite  attention  to  the 
expressed  desires,  beliefs,  or  creeds  of  a  few  of  the 
unchristianized  nations  of  the  earth.  In  all  of  them 
there  are  found  marked  indications  of  this  desire  for 
immortality  ;  abundant  proofs  that,  as  Lessing  says, 
"There  was  a  religion  ere  there  was  a  Bible,"  or  that, 
as  Sir  William  Jones  says,  "Divine  dogmas  run  like 
silver  threadings  through  the  systems  of  the  most 
ancient  nations." 

If  we  take  up  any  one  of  the  many  excellent  treat- 
ises upon  the  ancient  religions  of  the  world,  or  upon 
the  conditions  of  the  early  races  of  men,  that  which 
strikes  us  most  forcibly  is  the  uniform  belief  in  some 
higher  Power.  This  belief  is  expressed  in  various 
ways,  but  it  is  found  to  exist  universally.  Their  fu- 
neral rites  and  forms  of  worship,  wherever  investi- 
gated, indicate  also  a  belief  in  some  sort  of  future 
existence. 


372  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

The  stoical  Greenlander  places  his  dog  beside  his 
child  in  the  snow-covered  grave,  believing  that  the 
dog  will  lead  the  lost  one  safely  over  all  the  upper 
ice-fields  into  the  warm  and  sunny  realms  of  the 
spirit-land. 

The  American  Indians  bury  the  arrows,  hunting- 
knives,  and  other  implements  of  the  chase  with  their 
dead,  that  they  may  be  ready  for  use  in  the  Happy 
Hunting  Grounds.  They  see  the  smile  of  the  Great 
Spirit  in  the  sunshine,  and  hear  the  voice  of  the  evil 
spirit  in  the  storm.  Search  where  you  will,  from  the 
ice-bound  regions  of  Labrador  to  the  sunny  plains  of 
Mexico  and  Central  America — every-where  will  be 
found  abundant  evidences  of  belief  in  God  and  a 
hereafter. 

Sacrifice  for  sin  has  been  common  through  all  these 
regions,  and  even  human  blood  has  freely  flowed 
among  the  aborigines  of  these  lands.  Groping  after 
God,  the  Unknown  God,  these  rude  natures  have  hes- 
itated not  to  sacrifice  even  their  own  kindred  to  ap- 
pease his  wrath,  and  to  mutilate  their  own  bodies  to 
atone  for  sin.  The  instinct  of  immortality,  implanted 
within  all  hearts,  proves  stronger  than  every  tie  of 
kinship  and  every  bodily  desire.  What  though  their 
notions  of  God  were  crude,  and  their  ideal  heaven 
somewhat  sensual?  We  can  see  in  even  these 
imperfect  notions  and  earthly  ideals  a  cheering 
advance  upon  their  present  surroundings  and  wor- 
ship.    The  man  who  can  read  the  story  of  the  seun- 


In  His  Aspirations.  373 

civilized  children  of  the  forest  without  having  his 
soul  glow  with  sympathetic  fire  over  their  ardent  ex- 
pectations of  future  bliss  must  indeed  be  possessed  of 
a  strangely  lethargic  nature.  Many  of  the  most  fas- 
cinating pages  of  American  history  owe  their  charm 
to  this  cause,  and  many  of  the  finest  passages  in  the 
writings  of  our  most  treasured  American  poets  have 
these  heart-longings  of  rude  peoples  for  their  central 
thought. 

What  multitudes  of  hearts  have  throbbed  respon- 
sive to  Longfellow's  implied  belief, 

"That  in  even  savage  bosoms 

There  are  longings,  yearnings,  strivings 

For  the  good  they  comprehend  not ; 

That  the  feeble  hands  and  helpless, 

Groping  blindly  in  the  darkness, 

Touch  God's  right  hand  in  that  darkness 

And  are  lifted  up  and  strengthened." 

Schoolcraft,  who  literally  lived  with  the  Indians, 
and  so  writes  from  intimate  personal  knowledge, 
says :  "  The  idea  of  immortality  among  the  Mexican 
Indians  is  thoroughly  dwelt  upon.  It  is  not  spoken 
of  as  a  mere  supposition,  or  a  mere  belief  not  fixed. 
It  is  regarded  as  an  actuality,  as  something  known 
and  approved  by  the  judgment  of  the  native.  Dur- 
ing the  long  period  of  my  travels  and  residence  in  the 
Indian  country,  I  never  knew  or  heard  of  an  individ- 
ual who  did  not  believe  in  it,  and  the  appearauce  of 
the  body  in  a  future  state.     No  small  part  of  their 


374  Man  a  Eevelation  of  God. 

entire  mythology,  and  the  belief  that  sustains  man  in 
his  vicissitudes,  arise  from  the  anticipation  of  enjoy- 
ment in  a  future  life  after  the  soul  has  left  the 
body." 

Eecent  explorations  in  the  interior  of  the  Dark 
Continent  have  added  new  confirmation  to  the  theory 
of  a  universal  belief  in  immortality  inherent  in  man's 
nature.  Many  of  the  tribes  which  have  been  discov- 
ered are  in  a  state  of  absolute  barbarism,  and  some  of 
them  are  in  a  condition  too  degraded  to  permit  of  de- 
tailed description  ;  and  yet  we  are  informed,  by  the 
same  men  who  tell  us  of  their  utter  degradation,  that 
among  even  the  lowest  of  them  there  exists  a  firm  be- 
lief in  a  life  beyond.  Their  former  chiefs  are  simply 
"  gone  away,"  or  "  are  taking  a  long  sleep."  All  of 
them  expect  to  ultimately  gain  everlasting  joy,  or  be 
plunged  into  endless  misery. 

Here,  surely,  in  these  recent  explorations,  we  have 
sufficient  evidence  of  the  God-implanted  desire  to  live 
after  death.  No  matter  how  debased  and  polluted 
the  image  has  become,  it  is  the  image  still. 

If  we  look  into  antiquity  we  find  the  same  belief  or 
race  instinct  every- where  manifest.  The  volumes  bear- 
ing upon  this  subject  are  peculiarly  rich  and  full  of  in- 
terest, and  all  that  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  read  bear 
testimony  to  this  universal  desire.  Some  of  these 
are  opposed  to  revealed  religion,  and  others  are  pro- 
fessedly neutral,  while  most  of  them  favor  Christian- 
ity ;  hence,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  if  there  be 


In  His  Aspirations.  375 

any  thing  on  which  they  substantially  agree  that  ele- 
ment must  be  so  evident  that  it  could  be  neither 
mistaken  nor  ignored. 

I  would  gladly  give  quotations,  did  space  permit, 
fully  substantiating  the  above  statement,  that  all  do 
agree  in  according  to  every  nation  or  people  of  whom 
they  write  a  belief  in  life  after  the  present  existence, 
but  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  originals. 

I  am  convinced  that  every  careful  student  of  this  de- 
partment of  truth  will  come  to  the  conclusion  that  this 
universal  desire  for  immortality  is  one  of  the  golden 
chains,  tarnished  though  it  be  in  so  many  places,  of 
which  Mrs.  Browning  speaks  in  that  beautiful  couplet : 

"  The  whole  round  earth  is  every  way- 
Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God." 

Let  us  first  glance  at  China.  Here,  if  anywhere, 
we  may  look  upon  men  entirely  removed  from  Jew- 
ish influences.  Here,  if  anywhere,  we  may  observe 
the  native  workings  of  the  human  mind,  and  examine 
creeds  which  were  formulated  without  the  influence 
of  the  Israelite's  Bible.  What  does  such  examination 
reveal  ?  An  eager  longing  after  immortality,  and 
constant  indications  of  fullest  belief  in  life  beyond 
the  grave  ;  hearts,  burdened  with  the  same  anxious 
inquiries  as  ours,  voicing  themselves  in  the  same 
passionate  emotions;  souls  apparently  listening  with 
expectant  eagerness  to  hear  some  voice  out  of  the 
skies  say,  "  Come  unto  me." 


370  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

It  is  not  our  province  here  to  inquire  whether  or 
not  they  listened  in  vain.  The  fact  of  the  yearning 
and  the  listening,  whatever  its  outcome,  reveals  the 
image  in  even  those  darkened  souls.  Behold  them 
standing  at  the  graves  of  their  departed  ancestors, 
once  a  year  at  least,  to  offer  them  devout  worship, 
and  to  leave  a  generous  supply  of  food  for  the  hungry 
spirits !  The  more  ignorant  classes  believe  that  the 
departed  spirits  actually  consume  the  food  left  for 
them,  but  the  learned  consider  it  only  as  symbolical, 
and  teach  "  that  we  ought  to  keep  the  dead  before  our 
eyes  and  honor  them  as  if  they  were  still  living." 
Every-where  it  is  taught  that  a  man's  welfare,  for  this 
world  and  the  next,  depends  upon  a  faithful  discharge 
of  this  sacred  duty  to  departed  ancestors. 

This  every-where  recognized  belief  is  sufficient,  but 
if  more  proof  be  desired  it  may  be  seen  in  the  thou- 
sands of  temples  dedicated  to  their  gods,  at  whose 
shrines  millions  of  devout  worshipers  offer  vows  and 
sacrifice.  Every  prostrate  form  and  every  upturned 
face,  even  of  the  stoical  Chinaman,  is  a  constant  wit- 
ness of  the  quenchless  thirst  for  eternal  life  which 
exists  in  every  soul. 

Turning  our  attention  to  Persia,  we  see  a  very  dif- 
ferent sort  of  worship.  Instead  of  the  stoical  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  China,  every  thing  partakes  of  the  life- 
giving  characteristics  of  the  central  ideal.  They  are 
commonly  known  as  fire-worshipers.  This,  however, 
scarcely  affords  a  true  index  to  the  character  of  their 


In  His  A 


SITUATIONS. 


devotions.  I  am  not  inclined  to  offer  any  apology  for 
the  barbarous  rites  and  the  revolting  butcheries  of 
the  Persian  system,  but  simply  wish  to  call  attention 
to  the  fact  that  even  in  this  system  may  be  seen  the 
hand  of  God  endeavoring  to  lead  men  up  to  himself, 
the  faint  glimmerings  of  that  Light  which  "  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world."  The  student 
of  Persian  creeds  and  customs  cannot  fail  to  find 
many  plain  indications,  not  only  of  an  eager  desire 
for  immortality,  but  also  of  a  belief  in  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body.  Some  authorities  tell  us  that  no- 
where in  any  of  their  books  can  any  expression  of 
this  belief  be  found,  but  such  statements  seem  to  me 
entirely  unwarranted.  All  through  the  later  Persian 
writings  we  find  references  to  a  Deliverer,  a  hero- 
prophet — Sosiosh  the  Benefactor.  With  bursting 
hearts  these  eager  disciples  of  the  ancient  Zuroaster 
were  crying  out  after  God,  and  making  every  possible 
effort  to  somehow  get  into  existence  a  Son  of  God. 

Amomr  other  references  in  the  Vendidad  we  find 
the  following:  " Zarathustra  gave  warning  to  Agra- 
mainyiis  (and  said) :  '  Base  Agra-mainyns!  I  will  smite 
the  creation,  which  is  fashioned  by  the  devs.  I  will 
smite  the  Nasus,  whom  the  devs  have  fashioned.  I 
will  smite  the  Pari  whom  men  worship,  until  Sosiosh 
the  Victorious  is  born  out  of  the  water  Karisaoya, 
from  the  eastern  clime,  from  the  eastern  climes.' ' 

It  is  immaterial  to  our  argument  how  the  contro- 
versy respecting  the  source  whence  this  thought  of  a 


37s  Man  a  Kevelation  of  God. 

Mediator  sprang,  is  ultimately  settled  ;  for,  whether 
it  was  purely  original,  or  incorporated  into  their 
sacred  writings  from  some  outside  source,  the  fact  of 
its  presence  indicates  the  inherent  aspiration  after 
God,  shows  the  stretched-out  arm  endeavoring  to  lay 
hold  upon  a  Deliverer. 

If  we  take  under  consideration  the  religions  of 
India,  we  are,  at  the  outset,  deeply  impressed  with 
their  gloomy,  despairing  nature.  There  seems  to  rest 
upon  every  thing  the  dark  pall  of  what,  to  the  mind 
of  a  Christian,  amounts  to  annihilation  ;  namely,  ab- 
sorption into  the  Eternal.  We  read  in  their  sacred 
books  that  "  the  soul  is  an  inseparable  portion  of  the 
great  universal  mind— in  other  words,  of  Brahma. 
But  further  investigation  reveals  the  fact  that  this  so- 
called  '"philosophy  of  despair*'  has  not,  at  any  period 
in  their  history,  crushed  out  the  inborn  desire  for  im- 
mortality. This  very  absorption  is  to  these  darkened 
minds  a  pledge  of  eternal  existence. 

Although  the  general  trend  of  their  teachings  would 
lead  us  to  conclude  that  they  expect  nothing  but  the 
final  union  with,  or  absorption  into,  the  being  of  their 
God,  we  find  many  indications  of  a  different  belief. 
The  hearts  of  men  cannot  be  satisfied  with  annihilation 
of  any  sort,  however  exalted  its  character.  The  soul 
craves  separate  existence.  Among  their  prayers  is 
found  the  following:  "O  Vishnu  !  we  do  not  wish 
fur  absorption,  but  for  a  state  of  happiness  in  which 
we  shall  forever  see  and  serve  thee  as  our  lord :  in 


In  His  Aspirations.  379 

which  thou  wilt  continue  as  our  beloved  master,  and 
we  as  thy  servants." 

Christian  missionaries  of  all  denominations  declare 
that  they  every-where  find  the  hearts  of  these  dusky 
millions  ready  to  respond  to  the  story  of  a  Redeemer 
and  a  life  of  future  blessedness.  No  matter  how  de- 
graded their  moral  condition,  the  soul-thirst  for  eter- 
nal life  remains.  The  widow  lies  down  upon  the 
funeral  pile  alongside  of  her  husband's  lifeless  form, 
not  having  any  clear  conceptions  of  a  hereafter, 
but  there  is  much  in  voice  and  manner  which  tells 
of  a  fond  expectation  of  reunion  in  the  limitless 
beyond. 

The  sacred  waters  of  the  Ganges  close  over  a  be- 
loved child,  and  the  mother,  standing  in  agony  upon 
the  bank,  eagerly  watching  to  catch  one  more  glimpse 
of  the  precious  form,  is  heard  to  pray  that  she  may 
meet  the  saved  spirit  beyond  the  sacred  flood. 

These  brief  notices  of  a  few  of  the  prominent 
nations  of  remote  antiquity  must  suffice.  Egyptian 
history,  if  examined,  would  be  found  teeming  with 
similar  evidences.  Remains  of  ancient  art  in  every 
nation,  and  of  almost  every  description,  from  the  rude 
memorial  mounds  of  the  half-civilized  tribes  of  the 
north  to  the  imposing  monuments  of  Egypt  and 
Persia-,  attest  the  desire  for  immortality. 

If  we  look  into  the  writings  of  the  classic  pagans 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  we  see  the  same  desire  and  be- 
lief stated  in  various  ways.     They  had  not  the  teach- 


380  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

inirs  of  the  Bible  to  influence  them,  but  the  "  law  writ- 
ten  in  their  hearts  "  constantly  asserted  itself. 

We  see  what  Leighton  so  beautifully  expresses,  that 
"  the  human  soul  thirsts  after  a  good  invisible,  imma- 
terial, and  immortal,  to  the  enjoyment  whereof  the 
ministry  of  a  body  is  so  far  from  being  absolutely 
necessary  that  it  feels  itself  shut  up  and  confined  by 
that  to  which  it  is  now  united  as  by  a  partition  wall, 
and  groans  under  the  pressure  of  it." 

Cato  voiced  the  indescribable  longings  of  his  great 
soul  as  follows : 

"  Whence  this  pleasing  hope,  this  fond  desire, 

This  longing  after  immortality  ? 

Whence  this  secret  dread  and  inward  horror 

Of  falling  into  nought?     Why  shrinks  the  soul 

Back  on  herself,  and  startles  at  destruction  ? 

'Tis  the  divinity  that  stirs  within  us : 

'Tis  Heaven  itself  that  points  out  an  hereafter, 

And  intimates  eternity  to  man." 

Scipio  says:  "Do  you  think  that  I  should  ever 
have  undergone  so  many  labors,  day  and  night,  in  the 
senate  and  the  field,  if  my  glory  were  to  terminate 
with  my  life  ?  Would  it  not  have  been  much  better 
to  have  spent  my  days,  without  labor  or  contention, 
in  indolence  and  tranquillity?  But  my  soul,  lifting 
herself  up  I  know  not  how,  is  always  looking  forward 
to  posterity  as  if,  when  site  shall  have  departed  from 
the  body,  she  will  then  at  length  be  but  beginning  to 
live.  But  unless  the  case  be  that  our  souls  are  des- 
tined to  immortality,  not  that  of  any  person,  however 


In  His  Aspirations.  381 

excellent,  would  thus  exert  itself  for  the  sake  of  im- 
mortal glory."  All  through  even  so  ancient  a  poet 
as  Homer  are  found  distinct  references  to  the  exist- 
ence of  the  soul  after  the  death  of  the  body,  indicating 
not  only  the  belief  of  the  poet  himself,  but  also  that 
of  the  masses  to  whom  he  repeated  his  stirring  lines. 
In  one  place  his  hero,  Achilles,  is  mourning  over  the 
deatli  of  Patroclus,  but  comforts  himself  as  follows : 

"  'Tis  true,  'tis  certain  ;  man,  though  dead,  retains 
Part  of  himself:   th'  immortal  mind  remains." 

If  we  follow  the  history  of  Greek  poetry  and  phi- 
losophy, from  Homer  right  on  to  the  time  when  Paul 
stood  on  Mars'  Hill,  we  find  the  same  prevalent  belief 
in  immortality.  No  Christian  student  of  Grecian 
history  can  fail  to  come  into  a  kind  of  loving  sym- 
pathy with  such  great  souls  as  those  of  Socrates, 
Plato,  Aristotle,  Pythagoras,  Thales,  and  others,  in 
their  honest,  whole-souled  search  after  God  and  truth. 
He  finds  many  a  darkened,  sin -stained  page  ;  but  even 
here  he  reads  between  the  lines  and  learns  of  a  name- 
less yearning  after  soul-life.  Conscious  of  a  spirit 
within,  which  cannot  die,  and  conscious  of  inward 
discord,  looking  forward  to  a  day  of  judgment  with 
unquestioning  certainty,  they  desired  some  means  of 
reconciliation.  Shall  wTe  censure  them,  and  call  them 
hard  names,  because  they  personified  the  unknown 
God  in  various  material  shapes,  and  became  the  gross- 
est idolaters?      Shall   we  not   rather   conclude    that 


3S2  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

every  imagined  deity,  in  grove,  or  street,  or  temple  — 
that  every  idol,  wherever  found,  was  only  an  honest 
attempt  to  give  substance  to  a  belief  born  of  the 
God-given  desire  to  gain  favor  with  heaven,  and  live 
forever  in  peace  ?  But  it  is  not  possible  to  further 
consider  the  belief  of  these  ancient  nations. 

I  think  we  would  be  warranted  in  concluding, 
even  from  this  brief  review,  that  the  desire  for  im- 
mortality is  inborn,  and  exists  in  every  human  soul. 
This  is  further  aud  more  distinctly  shown  in  its  won- 
derful development  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

If  this  desire  is  God-implanted,  we  should  naturally 
expect  that  communion  with  God  would  greatly 
strengthen  it.  This  is  found  to  be  the  case.  We 
have  been  considering  the  longings  of  darkened 
minds  after  immortality,  and  the  gropings  of  pagan 
souls  after  an  unknown  God.  Even  among  these 
there  has  been  found  a  prevailing  faith  in  a  here- 
after. But  how  much  brighter  shines  this  faith  un- 
der the  teachings  of  Christ ! 

Cato's  poetic  soul  speaks  earnestly  of  God  and  im- 
mortality, but  how  much  nearer  to  realization  seems 
the  longing  expressed  in  the  following,  by  Bernard 
of  Cluny : 

"0  sweet  and  blessed  country, 

The  home  of  God's  elect! 
0  sweet  and  blessed  country 

That  eager  hearts  expect  I 


In  His  Aspirations.  3S3 

Jesus,  in  mercy  bring  us 

To  that  dear  land  of  rest ; 
Who  art,  with  God  the  Father, 

And  Spirit,  ever  blest." 

How  much  fuller  the  God-consciousuess  in  the 
beautiful  lines  of  Faber : 

w  0  how  I  fear  thee,  living  God, 

With  deepest,  tenderest  fears, 
And  worship  thee  with  trembling  hope, 

And  penitential  tears. 

"  Yet  I  may  love  thee  too,  0  Lord, 

Almighty  as  thou  art, 
For  thou  hast  stooped  to  ask  of  me 

The  love  of  my  poor  heart." 

Socrates  discoursed  calmly,  and  in  some  respects 
beautifully,  of  the  hereafter;  but  oftentimes  even 
a  child,  enjoying  the  Christian's  assurance,  manifests 
an  equal  degree  of  composure.  Scipio  speaks  of  his 
soul  "lifting  herself  up,"  he  "knows  not  how,"  but 
"always  looking  forward;"  and  this  same  God-im- 
planted, heavenward  look,  under  the  influence  of  the 
Christian  religion,  becomes,  "  I  press  toward  the  mark 
for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ 
Jesus." 

"  O  blessed  day,"  said  the  ancient  teacher,  "  when 
I  shall  arrive  at  the  divine  assembly  of  souls ! "  and 
we  accept  the  outburst  of  that  pagan  heart  as  a  sure 
proof  of  immortality,  but  are  glad  that   the  same 


3S-A  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

becomes,  by  the  Gospel's  power,  "I  am  sweeping 
through  the  gates,  washed  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb." 
Every-where  throughout  Christendom,  among  all 
classes  in  society,  and  among  all  ages,  is  found  this 
upward  look  of  the  soul,  and  the  more  fully  the  life 
conforms  to  the  precepts  of  the  Bible  the  more  eager 
becomes  the  gaze.  From  thousands  of  Christian 
churches,  and  from  millions  of  home  altars  arises 
the  voice  of  praise  and  thanksgiving;  while  other 
millions  are  listening  to  catch  the  last  lingering 
echoes  of  voices  they  confidently  expect  to  hear  again 
in  the  land  of  eternal  joy,  as  through  their  tears  they 
look  with  full  assurance  beyond  the  grave. 

Millions  are  enduring,  with  calm  and  uncomplain- 
ing resignation,  the  crushing  care  and  toil  of  daily 
life,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  afflictive  circumstances, 
constantly  cheered  by  the  bright  visions  of  the  pain- 
less land  beyond  the  reach  of  earth's  woe. 

With  these  facts  before  us,  and  with  the  concep- 
tions of  God  which  we  are  supposed  to  have  already 
formed,  is  it  not  possible  to  obtain  a  little  closer  view 
of  the  Image?  Is  it  even  thinkable  that  the  Be- 
stower  of  so  many  blessings  upon  the  brute  creation, 
affording  satisfaction  to  every  desire,  would  deal  less 
generously  with  man  ?  Is  it  thinkable  that  he  would 
provide  such  a  marvelous  earthly  temple  for  the  hu- 
man soul,  and  place  within  that  soul  longings  which 
grow  stronger,  and  hopes  which  become  more  real, 
the  nearer  to  perfect  obedience  comes  the  daily  life, 


In  His  Aspirations.  385 

simply  to  disappoint  that  soul  at  the  last.  No!  a 
thousand  times  no !  All  life's  precious  experiences 
take  hold  upon  experiences  beyond.  Every  God- 
implanted  longing  shall  find  a  God-given  supply. 
"  Verm  amicitice  se?npiternce  suntr 

The  same  reasoning  which  applies  to  the  assurance 
of  a  gratification  of  man's  desire  for  immortality 
holds  good  with  reference  to  all  other  God-implanted 
aspirations.  The  soul  shall  ever  expand.  The  de- 
vout mind  responds  fully  to  the  sentiment  of  the 
learned  Creech  :  "  There  is  not  a  more  pleasing  and 
triumphant  consideration  in  religion  than  this — the 
perpetual  progress  which  the  soul  makes  toward  the 
perfection  of  its  nature  ;  that  the  soul  shall  go  on 
from  strength  to  strength,  and  shine  forever  with  new 
accessions  of  glory,  and  brighten  to  all  eternity  ;  that 
she  will  be  still  adding  virtue  to  virtue,  and  knowl- 
edge to  knowledge." 

Channing  says :  "  The  truth  is  that  all  action  on 
earth,  even  the  intensest,  is  but  the  sport  of  child- 
hood compared  with  the  energy  and  activity  of  that 
higher  life.  It  must  be  so.  For  what  principles  are 
so  active  as  intellect^  benevolence,  the  love  of  truth,  the 
thirst  for  perfection,  sympathy  with  the  suffering,  and 
devotion  to  God's  purposes  ?  And  these  are  the  ever- 
expanding  principles  of  the  future  life." 

This  look  at  the  upturned  face  of  man  is  full  of 

interest,  but  we  cannot  continue  it  longer.     It  is  a 

revelation  which  each  reader  clearly  discerns  as  he 
17 


3S6  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

looks  into  his  own  soul.  No  person  with  heart  silent 
of  holy  voices  will  peruse  these  pages.  The  infinite 
longings  vary  greatly  in  intensity,  but  depart  not 
from  any. 

Over  some  upturned  faces  there  hangs  the  thick 
cloud  of  agonizing  doubt,  and  yet  an  Invisible  Power 
draws  the  soul  upward. 

It  must  be  that  the  sun  is  above  the  cloud.  God 
grant  that  every  reader  may  be  enabled  to  see,  with 
clearest  vision,  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life,  and 
come  ultimately  to  the  full  fruition  of  every  God- 
implanted  desire ! 


"  Who  will  describe  a  soul  struggling  for  eternal  life,  or  paint  the 
movements  of  the  Holy  Ghost  creating  an  immortal  soul  anew,  bap- 
tizing it  into  God  and  heaven  ?  " — Broolcs. 

"  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh  ;  and  that  which  is  born 
of  the  Spirit  is  spirit.  Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be 
born  again." — Christ 

"  So  far  as  a  page  of  limping  words  can  compass  the  mighty  theme, 
I  essay  the  hopeless  task  of  portraying  the  glory  of  the  indwelling 
Christ." — Steele. 

"  Men  who  lead  holy  lives  do,  by  so  living,  carry  greater  conviction 
to  the  hearts  of  the  world  than  if  they  wrought  miracles." — Deems. 

"Thy  sinless  mind  in  me  reveal; 

Thy  Spirit's  plenitude  impart; 
And  all  my  spotless  life  shall  tell 

The  abundance  of  a  loving  heart." 

—  Charles  Wesley. 

"  The  path  of  the  just  is  as  the  shining  light,  that  shineth  more  and 
more  unto  the  perfect  day." — Solomon. 


In  His  Regeneration  and  Adoption.        381) 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
IN  HIS  REGENERATION  AND  ADOPTION. 

If  the  reader  has  followed  me  from  the  beginning, 
with  an  unbiased  mind,  I  think  there  can  be  no  rea- 
sonable doubt  remaining  as  to  the  reality  of  the  reve- 
lation, and  he  has  ere  this  accepted  the  fact,  and, 
intellectually  at  least,  yields  himself  to  conviction. 

To  him  there  remains  a  still  clearer  view.  It  has 
been  left  for  the  close  because,  to  the  unbeliever  who 
will  not  be  convinced,  to  the  atheist  who  stubbornly 
refuses  to  acknowledge  God,  and  to  the  agnostic 
who  as  stubbornly  contends  for  his  absolute  ignorance 
of  God,  this  department  of  evidence  has  no  weight, 
and  can,  therefore,  be  of  no  interest.  Hence,  should 
there  be  one  of  any  of  these  classes  who  has  followed 
me  thus  far,  and  remains  still  of  the  same  opinion  as 
at  the  beginning,  I  say  to  him,  Spare  yourself  the 
further  perusal  of  this  book. 

But  to  all  into  whose  minds  there  comes  the  con- 
sciousness of  a  God,  to  all  in  whose  hearts  there  is 
any  response  to  God's  teachings,  as  seen  in  the  human 
organism,  and  in  human  history,  what  remains  will 
come  with  added  force.  It  may  be  termed  the  re- 
generating power  of  grace,  and  the  abiding  presence 
of  the  Comforter.     It  is  the  revelation  of  God  in  con- 


390  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

version,  and  in  the  Christ-likeness  of  Christian  char- 
acter. 

Life  from  antecedent  life  is  a  fundamental  law  of 
nature.  Spontaneous  generation  is  proven  to  be  a 
myth  as  regards  the  physical  world.  The  same  law 
holds  good  in  the  spiritual  realm.  Eternal  life  can 
proceed  from  no  lower  source  than  itself.  It  does 
come  into  human  hearts.  The  coming  does,  then, 
manifest  forth  an  eternal  God,  the  author  of  eternal 
life.  Every  conversion  is  a  new  demonstration  of 
supernatural  power.  Men  cavil  at  the  records  of 
Scripture  miracles,  and  ask  why  there  are  none  at  the 
present  day,  while  all  around  them  are  constantly 
occurring  those  that  are  as  genuine  as  any  ever 
wrought  by  Christ's  own  hand.  "Whether  is  it 
easier  to  say  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy,  Thy  sins  be  for- 
given thee;  or  to  say,  Arise,  and  take  up  thy  bed, 
and  walk?" 

If  the  healing  of  a  poor  paralyzed  body  is  a  great 
work,  the  quickening  of  a  sin-palsied  soul  is  a 
greater.  If  to  open  blind  eyes  requires  supernatural 
power,  certainly  nothing  less  will  cause  the  scales  of 
sin  to  fall  off.  Nor  have  the  displays  of  divine 
power  in  conversion  grown  less  in  the  past  eighteen 
hundred  years.  The  same  transforming  power  which 
made  a  naming  herald  of  the  cross  out  of  vacillating, 
blasphemous  Peter,  and  sent  Saul,  the  arch  perse- 
cutor of  the  early  Christians,  to  bind  up  the  wounds 
he  had  himself  inflicted,  and  establish  Christianity  in 


In  His  Regeneration  and  Adoption.  391 
the  regions  beyond,  is  still  to  be  seen  doing  its  mirac- 
ulous work. 

A  prominent  business  man,  an  avowed  sceptic,  who 
for  many  years  bad  improved  every  convenient  op- 
portunity to  cast  slurs  upon  religion,  declaring  that 
all  Christians  were  either  dupes  or  hypocrites,  was  led 
by  the  devoted  character  of  a  young  child  to  think 
seriously  upon  the  subject  of  personal  religoin ;  and 
then,  under  the  appeals  of  Christ's  ambassador,  was 
induced  to  come  with  streaming  eyes  to  the  mercy- 
seat,  and  cry  aloud  for  pardon.  Pardon  was  found, 
the  whole  nature  changed,  the  scoffer  transformed 
into  an  ardent  friend,  and  the  hard-faced  infidel  into  a 
loving-hearted,  happy-faced  worshiper. 

Another,  with  hot,  impulsive  nature  like  Peter's, 
who,  to  violent  language  against  Christianity,  was 
wont  to  add  violent  actions  against  Christians,  rushed 
with  all  the  frenzy  of  hate  into  the  church,  and  down 
the  aisle  to  the  altar,  for  the  purpose  of  dragging  his 
penitent  wife  away  from  what  was  to  him  a  loathsome, 
degraded  place,  but  was  seized  by  the  Spirit's  power, 
and  before  he  left  the  room  began  crying  out  for 
mercy.  For  several  years  thereafter  his  shrill  voice 
shouted  God's  praises,  and  his  streaming  eyes  spoke 
of  the  indwelling  Christ ;  and  I  believe  they  are  still 
thus  employed. 

Another,  who  was  lower  than  the  brutes,  because 
she  had  sunken  almost  into  perdition— into  a  state 
out  of  which  few  women  ever  rise— felt  the  touch  of 


392  Man  a  Rev  elation  of  God. 

a  loving  hand,  and  was  lifted  out  of  her  degradation 
into  a  new  life  and  new  society,  even  the  household 
of  faith,  and  stands  to-day  a  bright  example  of 
Christ's  power  to  save  and  cleanse.  These  are  but  a 
few  out  of  many  miraculous  transformations  which 
the  writer  has  witnessed.  They  are  occurring  every- 
where throughout  the  field  of  Christian  effort. 

While  these  pages  are  being  written,  there  comes 
up  from  all  directions  the  news  of  deliverance  from 
sin.  Thousands  are  singing  the  "  new  song  "  who  a 
few  months  ago  were  cursing  God  and  desecrating 
his  law.  Is  not  this  a  revelation  of  the  same  divine 
power  working  in  men  which  was  displayed  at 
Pentecost  % 

What  matters  it  whether  three  thousand  souls  catch 
the  holy  fire  at  one  altar  or  three  souls  at  every  one 
of  a  thousand  different  altars !  God  is  one,  and  all 
souls  are  his. 

Adoption. 

In  the  Abiding  Presence,  God  is  still  further  re- 
vealed, and  much  more  fully. 

For  four  thousand  years  men  were  feeling  after 
God,  and  were  listening  to  his  voice,  as  "  at  sundry 
times  and  in  divers  manners  he  spake  unto  our  fathers 
by  the  prophets,"  and  many  found  him  ;  but  the 
great  mass  of  humanity  stumbled  on  in  the  dark- 
ness, seeking  rest  but  finding  none,  until  the  "  Word 
was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us,  and  we  beheld 
his  glory."     This  incarnate  revelation  could  not  re- 


In  His  Regeneration  and  Adoption.       393 

main  within  a  single  earthly  form,  and  in  due  time 
passed  again  into  the  heavens,  but  sent  in  his  stead  the 
Abiding  Presence,  the  Comforter,  the  Holy  Spirit,  to 
be  an  indwelling  witness  in  every  consecrated 
heart. 

Every  Christian  becomes  a  new  incarnation.  "  I 
and  my  Father  are  one,"  said  Christ.  Christ  wras 
God  in  the  flesh.  According  to  his  promise,  Christ 
comes  into  the  believer's  heart  and  abides  there.  He 
is  Immanuel,  and  wTe  are  living  epistles,  known  and 
read  of  all  men.  Just  as  the  greatest  miracle  of 
Christianity  is  Christ,  and  the  fullest  and  most  com- 
plete vindication  of  Christ  is  his  blameless  life  of 
unparalleled  charity,  so  the  clearest,  most  satisfactory 
and  world -convincing  revelation  of  the  divinity  of  our 
religion  is  the  life  and  character  of  Christ  shining  out 
of  our  lives,  a  light  to  lighten  the  world,  a  force  to 
bring  to  naught  the  entire  army  of  unbelief,  a  soul- 
cheering  wan  nth  to  melt  away  all  the  icebergs  of  so- 
called  rationalism,  and  bring  the  multitudes  into  lov- 
ing contact  with  the  great  Heart. 

Other  evidence  may  convince  the  intellect — a  work 
of  great  importance — but  this  does  more.  It  con- 
vinces both  head  and  heart.  It  appeals  to  the  whole 
man.  He  sees  Christ  in  the  life,  and  cannot  refuse  to 
believe  the  testimony  of  his  own  senses.  The  chief 
difficulty  with  unbelievers  is  that  they  look  at  unwor- 
thy Christians  and  measure  Christianity  by  them.     It 

is  difficult  to  conceive  of  men  being  guilty  of  such 
17* 


394:  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

foil j,  and  we  could  not  were  not  the  evidence  so 
constantly  before  our  eyes.  As  well  might  we  argue 
that  there  were  no  thrifty,  well-formed  trees  in  the 
forest  because  there  are  so  many  deformed  ones. 

If  we  but  turn  our  eyes  away  from  the  abnormal 
we  shall  find  abundant  examples  of  the  normal.  If 
there  be  but  one  man  in  whom  Christ  can  be  seen  as 
a  living  presence,  that  one  man  is  sufficient  to  prove 
the  divinity  of  the  Christian  religion.  Who  is  there 
that  has  not  implicit  confidence  in  the  genuineness 
of  some  one  person's  piety  ?  Who  that  has  not  ob- 
served the  permanent  transformation  of  character  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  Spirit's  presence  ?  Certainly 
no  one  who  has  come  into  contact  with  men  to  any 
considerable  extent. 

I  am  aware  that  unbelievers  are  wont  to  discount 
the  displays  of  divine  grace  seen  in  conversion,  be- 
cause so  many  who  profess  conversion  fall  back  into 
their  old  ways  ;  but  for  every  one  who  thus  falls,  after 
what  seemed  a  clear  and  positive  regeneration,  dozens, 
or  even  scores,  go  on  to  know  the  Lord  more  per- 
fectly, and  die  rejoicing  in  the  assurance  of  acceptance 
with  God.  This  fact  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  con- 
vince any  unprejudiced  mind. 

As  before  suggested,  it  is  quite  manifest  that  too 
often  the  objector  is  inclined  to  search  for  the  false- 
hearted professor,  wThom  he  himself  stigmatizes  as 
"  no  Christian,"  and  then  point  him  out  as  an  exam- 
ple of  Christianity's  power.     Of  the  same  character 


In  His  Regeneration  and  Adoption.       3^5 

is  much  of  the  criticism  which  is  heaped  upon  the 
doctrine  of  scriptural  holiness.  Because  some  of 
those  who  most  loudly  profess  sanetification  are  the 
least  worthy  of  confidence,  and  the  greatest  mischief- 
makers  in  the  Church,  men  in  general  are  quite  in- 
clined to  aim  thrusts  at  the  doctrine,  by  holding  up 
these  spiritually  proud  boasters  in  our  Israel  as  exam- 
ples of  the  "  holy  rest  of  faith,"  forgetting,  or  per- 
sistently overlooking,  the  greater  numbers  who  ex- 
hibit, by  a  well-ordered  life  and  a  godly  conversation, 
the  fullest  indwelling  of  the  Comforter,  and  are 
accepted  of  all  men  as  living  witnesses  to  the  com- 
plete cleansing  power  of  the  shed  blood.  This  Abid- 
ing Presence  is  the  glad  possession  of  sufficient  num- 
bers to  prove  its  possibility  for  all,  and  constitute  it 
the  final  and  incontrovertible  revelation  of  God  in 
man — a  revelation  by  and  through  the  Spirit,  a  reve- 
lation which  makes  man  a  conscious  possessor  of  God 
the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 

This  possession  is  constantly  shown  by  its  fruits, 
coming  out  in  the  life — a  life  of  love  to  all  men,  of 
joy  in  Christian  service  and  sacrifice  for  God  and 
humanity,  and  peace  which  flows  ever  onward  with 
deep  and  steady  gulf-stream  current,  undisturbed  by 
the  alternating  storms  and  calms  of  our  earthly  en- 
vironment. To  a  life  of  spotless  purity  and  benevo- 
lence is  added  a  full  and  free  declaration  of  the 
inmost  soul.  He  "  rejoices  evermore,  prays  with- 
out ceasing,  and  in  every  thing  gives  thanks." 


396  Man  a  Revelation  of  God. 

This  final  and  sublimest  revelation  of  God  in  man 
must  find  voice,  must  express  itself  in  words  as  well 
as  deeds.  "Even  as  the  Word  was  made  flesh  and 
dwelt  among  us,"  so  that  "  we  beheld  his  gloiw,  the 
glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of 
grace  and  truth,"  so  this  Word,  dwelling  richly  in 
human  souls  by  the  Spirit,  burns  its  way  up  through 
the  whole  being  and  touches  the  tongue  as  with  a  live 
coal  from  off  God's  altar,  setting  it  to  declaring,  in 
one  way  or  another, 

"  Every  thought,  design,  and  word, 
Burns  with  love  to  thee,  my  Lord ; 
Body,  soul,  and  spirit  joined 
All  in  love  to  thee  combined." 

And  at  the  same  time  there  will  exist  no  feeling 
of  self-satisfaction,  or  spiritual  pride ;  for  out  of  the 
same  soul  will  come, 

"More  and  more  oflove  I  claim, 

Glowing  still  with  quenchless  flame; 

All  my  heart  to  thee  aspires, 
Yearns  with  infinite  desires." 

This  is  that  "  spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  we  cry, 
Abba,  Father.  The  Spirit  himself  beareth  witness 
with  our  spirit,  that  we  are  the  children  of  God." 


THE   END. 


DATE  DUE 

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GAYLORD 

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